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It was the year of big name sequels in gaming. But isn’t every year? There were big hype machine titles that were disappointing. There were virtual unknowns that were very surprising. There was big news in the portables scene. All in all I suppose it was a very good year.

News and Disappointments
Probably the biggest news earlier in the year were the announcements of new handheld consoles from Sony and Nintendo. Also surprisinly, both were announced to appear by the end of the year. Nintendo DS was a high Christmas seller with its dual backlit screens, one of which is a touchscreen. Backwards compatibility with GBA titles made this a highly seeked item and safe upgrade. I myself, was not really impressed with DS. I don’t get the point of having two screens when it is really impossible to look at both at the same time. Having to look up and down between screens isn’t really all that different from hitting a button to see another screen pop up. And the touchscreen seems like more of a gimmick, with probably only a handfull of titles that will make innovative use of it. Meanwhile, the Sony PSP didn’t make it out here yet, but is out in Japan and selling on eBay. The Sony PSP touts more options, being more capable with graphics, uses a large proprietary disc, and shorter battery life. I dont really plan to get either of these, as my GBA SP sits collecting dust, but if I were to consider it, I’d definitely want the Sony PSP.

Another announcement that was a little sudden was Sony’s PS2 console getting smaller. And really small it was. It’s so thin and compact, the controller almost looks bigger than it. Sony got rid of the hard drive bay, so no hard drive upgrades are possible. Which unless you want to play FFXI on PS2, there’s no other use for the hard drive. Way to support your peripherals Sony! The slim version also has the network adapter built in. The new model does phase out the older one, so those that still wanted a PS2 with hard drive for FFXI or loading games on it may be out of luck.

Electronic Arts shocked the sports gaming world by announcing they have secured a 5 year deal with the NFL to make games exclusively. This left me very disappointed as I was never a fan of Madden NFL, and much preferred Sega’s ESPN football. Then later, they purchased 20% shares of Ubisoft which many feel may result in a takeover sometime later. Then EA bought rights to the Arena Football League (in case a 1% chance someone will make a AFL game that will take away 1% of EA’s football market). And just recently, EA made another shocking announcement that they secured the ESPN license for 15 years. So now Sega can’t use NFL players and teams, and they can’t use the ESPN presentation they had the last two years. I’m very disappointed at the way EA has been throwing their weight around. It’s even more apalling to me than Microsoft buyouts. Maybe EA has a vendetta against Sega. Ever since the Genesis days, EA refused to pay Sega manufacturing costs to make cartridges so EA made it themselves. Which is why the EA carts had a larger shape and a funny yellow tab. Then EA decided not to make any games for Sega’s Dreamcast. Sega retaliated by acquiring a developer to make sports games for them. Which resulted in the ESPN/2K series that really cut into EA’s market, and in my opinion, Sega produced every sports series better than EA did, although sales would be in EA’s favor. Boycott EA!

Sony would announce several delays to Gran Turismo 4, and then announce they will be taking the online mode out. More disappointments, I decide not to purchase this when it is released.

Acclaim goes bankrupt. Their properties are picked up by several publishers. One of note, EA got hold of Criterion which develops the Burnout games. Burnout 3 turned out to be the racing game of the year. More of EA domination.

Xbox
Biggest release of the year was without a doubt Halo 2. It was hyped for a long time, and had big marketing. They decided to make it worldwide midnight release, and video game geeks from all over the world lined up at their local game store to get one. The game sold $125 million in the first day, setting the record for video games, and being the envy of the movie industry (most movies don’t make that much in its entire release time). Biggest feature of Halo 2 is Xbox Live mode, which also set a record for online users.

Team Ninja of Tecmo also supplied the Xbox with two great titles: Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive: Ultimate. Both are incredibly beautiful, unsurpassed on the Xbox scene. Ninja Gaiden was hard has heck, but so worth the effort. Dead or Alive is a fighting game that emphasizes a lot of sexy graphics, simplistic controls, and large multi-tiered environments. Ultimate contains an unaltered Dead or Alive 1 from the Sega Saturn, and a revamped graphically impressive Dead or Alive 2. Both offer online play for the first time, and is loads of fun.

Fable was a highly hyped RPG that didn’t live up to its expectations. The game’s emphasis was on ‘with choice comes consequences’. Your actions in battle decide how you will appear and what skills you develop. Your actions with other characters will result in how they react to you. You can be evil and the villagers will fear you, and your eyes will turn red and appear menacing. Or you can be extremely good, well loved and glowing from the aura of your goodness. It’s not a terrible game, its just not everything they promised.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. Splinter Cell already established itself as a major Xbox franchise. It was one of the best games on Xbox graphically and gameplay wise. This sequel proved to best itself. The biggest surprised was that the tossed in a multiplayer mode. The bigger surprised was it wasn’t just some typical deathmatch thing, it was amazing. The tools and gadgets of multiplayer game make it so original and innovative. Pandora Tomorrow is worth the purchase even just for the multiplayer mode.

Burnout 3: Takedown. Burnout 2 was okay. Burnout 3 is awesome. It was voted unanimously the racing game of the year by most major reviewers. And deservedly so. It packs such high energy in its incredible speed and high impact crashes. Going Xbox Live is even more incredible as the competition picks up. This is a true arcade racer. Don’t expect any real car models, upgrades, or import models here. It’s just a car and the competition, high speeds and crashing into each other.

ESPN NFL 2K5. I always talk about how Sega’s football game is so much better than EA’s Madden, so I won’t get into it much. Better graphics, gameplay, online play, and only 19.99 at release.

Other games I really enjoyed: Def Jam Fight for NY, NFL Street 2, Fight Night 2004, James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, NBA Ballers, Full Spectrum Warrior, Mortal Kombat: Deception, A Bard’s Tale, Spider-man 2, ESPN NBA 2K5, and ESPN Baseball.

Games I didn’t like: Star Wars Battlefront, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Sudeki, SRS Street Racing Syndicate

more to come…

I’m glad this week is over. I’ve been so tired lately. It’s not because I’m overwhelmed by school work. It’s because my sleeping schedule is so screwed up. I been staying up til 5 or 6 am, getting up at 8 or 9 to go to school, and come back in the afternoon and sleep til night and I haven’t been able to adjust myself. I tried avoiding the afternoon nap and hang in til night time, but somehow I still am able to stay up til dawn.

Yesterday my girlfriend got a bunch of computer parts to build her new computer. I helped guide her in the hardware installation and did all the software stuff. It’s a much better computer than mines. She got a AMD 64 3200+ (90nm), Geforce 6600GT, 1 GB dual channel RAM, 250 GB Serial ATA HDD, a huge case with too many fans and lights with a nice temperature reading on the front, wireless keyboard and mouse, and awhile back she got a really nice Sony 19″ flat panel monitor. Can’t wait to try out Half Life 2 on it. But she’s going to be playing FFXI all the time.

I made some purchases: Fifth Element and Leon the Professional Ultimate Edition DVDs. And Resident Evil 4 for gamecube with Blockbuster store credit I had left over from trade-ins awhile back.

Just wanted to give equal time to the other movies I saw this year, particularly the ones I wish I hadn’t. I’m usually good at avoiding the movies that are bad, but some reason or another I catch a few I regret.

Catwoman. From the moment I saw Halle Berry’s apparent costume on the Internet, to the moment the trailer first appeared, to when I sat down in the theaters to see it, I had been dreading this movie. Why did I see it? It was mostly against my will. I had really low expectations, and it just missed hitting it. It was terrible, but since I expected such agonizing pain, it wasn’t all that bad. I still don’t recommend it to anyone. In fact it would be wise to avoid it like the plague. The plot was idiotic, character development was null, the editing was atrocious especially during action sequences, but this is expected when you can’t get a good looking shot from an incapable director with someone incapable of doing the stunts. Maybe I’m too harsh, but that’s how I’ll leave it.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Speaking of bad editing, this movie had it loads full, for the same reasons as above. Most of the action you can’t make out anyway from rapid editing and blur effects. I really didn’t mind this movie though. If you are fans of this sort of thing, I’m sure you will enjoy it. There were some problems with plot holes, and believability, and I disliked how they turned it into a silly action flick and forgot about the zombies and horror.

Warriors of Heaven and Earth. Most people haven’t even heard of this. It’s a chinese movie about a group of warriors who must escort some sacred item to the Emperor. It looked really cool from the trailers, like some kind of epic Lord of the Rings style war drama. But it was incredibly slow and boring. Even the action sequences made me ask when it would be over. I barely knew what was going on throughout the first half, and the end was unfulfilling. Visually the movie presented itself well, the costumes and locations and cinematography were well done. The weakness was in the story.

House of Flying Daggers. I do not regret seeing this movie. I was not bad at all. My only gripe was how the story was told. It was all about a melodramatic love triangle, while behind it, some political conflict as the basis of the story goes unresolved and ignored by the end. Visually Zhang Yimou’s film does a great job, but it’s not as visually impressive as Hero which I enjoy much more despite its political propaganda message.

Speaking of Hero, I didn’t mention it for 2004 because I actually saw it years before. Same goes with Shaolin Soccer. Both are great movies and highly recommended. However a 2004 film I did enjoy was New Police Story. It’s a Jackie Chan film but a little different. It’s not a typical action comedy that he usually does. And it’s not like his other high energy ‘supercop’ type movies. This one is much more serious than we’re used to. He spends a good 30% of the film crying or being very emotional. It’s still a cop movie, and you can’t have a Jackie Chan movie without some action and stunts. However I did find the choreographed kung fu scenes a bit distracting to the realism of the story. Another great martial arts movie I saw came out of Thailand, although in 2003, I didn’t see it until 2004. Ong Bak has all the crazy stunts we’re used to from Jackie Chan’s early days, and powerful fight scenes that Jean Claude Van Damme wish he could do. I believe the lead actor, Tony Jaa, is our new Jackie Chan.

Passion of the Christ, a very powerful film and watchable even if you aren’t of the faith. However, I don’t find this an easy movie to watch again and again.

Fahrenheit 9/11, box office record setting documentary about the Bush administration during the events of 9/11. Very eye opening about many details of our government. Although some of the points implied by Michael Moore seem a bit stretched.

The Bourne Supremacy, lives up to the style and energy of the first movie. But really isn’t any more special or worse in that sense. Decent action, but still unanswered questions as expected.

Mean Girls. I was pretty impressed with this movie. You don’t see me watching these type of movies much, but it had excellent writing and I’ll admit I enjoyed it. Very funny, and not mindless. I recommend it. I dare you men to see it!

However the other “chick flick” I was forced to see: Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. I didn’t like it, it was incredibly predictable and so lame.

Blade Trinity. I barely enjoyed it because I love these type of flicks. But this is easily the weakest of the trilogy. It’s not cool when Ryan Reynolds steals the show from Blade. The end fight sequence wasn’t awe inspiring.

Around the World in 80 Days. Despite it’s colorfulness and quirky characters, It’s a wild ride that you’ll regret in the end. Yet another Jackie Chan American movie to stink.

2004 was a pretty slow year for movies in my opinion. A few leap out at me, but there was no big star that I adore. Maybe it’s because there was no Lord of the Rings movie this year .

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Michel Gondry the director comes from doing alot of fantastic music videos for the White Stripes and Bjork among others. He has a knack for doing practical effects through editing. No fancy computer work. And it carries over to this film. Everything was done practically with no CG. The movie is thoughtful and a mind trip. Charlie Kauffman scripts tend to be ingeniously insane. And it was nice seeing Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey basically switching their typical role types. Highly recommended for those who have no seen it. I didn’t get a chance to see this in the theaters, but I bought it as a blind buy on DVD and don’t regret it at all.

I’m a big fan of Michael Mann movies, Heat and the Insider being a couple of my favorites. Mann does a great job of visualizing a realistic Los Angeles, and presents not an action movie, but a drama that gets into the characters’ heads and has action elements to progress the plot. Tom Cruise was awesome as the bad guy, but Jamie Foxx here really shows his stuff. I think this is his breakout role, and Ray being the film that secures himself into being a serious actor. Only regret of this movie is the ending. It turns into a Terminator-style thriller chase, and ends kind of anticlimatically. But I still recommend it as it is one of my favorites of the year.

I don’t know what else I can say about Pixar, but they have been nearly perfect. I admit I thought this one wasn’t going to up to par with the rest of them, but it was awesome. Their next movie, Cars, is giving me doubts though. The Incredibles was a no brainer. Best animated movie of the year.

Okay I’m gonna stop using pictures now just to run through other stuff quickly.

The other big animation movie was Shrek 2. I liked it a lot. Really funny. But the Livin’ la Vida Loca bit was dated. But gotta keep in mind they start work on these movies years ahead of time.

The big blockbuster of the year was Spider-man 2. I was not disappointed. It exceeded my expectations. Director Sam Raimi made one of the best comic adaptations ever. While it has all the pretty effects and action you come to expect from comic heros, the movie itself is really about the characters, and the movie spends a lot of time getting that across.

Hellboy. Probably the 2nd best comic adaptation of the year. This is a comic that has a premise that may sound silly, and characters that may seem silly. But the film takes itself very seriously and this world of Hellboy seems very believeable. I enjoyed it so much I bought the DVD and then bought the director’s cut DVD.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban didn’t have a big effect on the box office as its predecessors. But it wasn’t because the movie was bad. This installment takes a darker turn and it works out pretty well. However I found this film to be less memorable than the others. Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, because I did.

Kill Bill vol. 2. A lot of people expected another blood fest and didn’t get it. They then decided this one wasn’t as good as the first. But I think this one was better than the first. Perhaps because I savor the dialogue more than the action in between, and this volume had more of it. I really love both volumes together and would rather view them together as one movie.

more to come…