Hello to all you crazy Travis followers! Fresh off the heels of E3 2007 out here in Los Angeles I find myself running down south to San Diego for the 38th Annual Comic-Con 2007! I'll be out here for the event covering booths, comics, video games, and of course the Hollywood influx of movies and television. I'm hosting Rebellion Multimedia's new webTV show so stay glued to your seats for all the pictures, interviews, reviews, and crazy crazy fans of Comic-Con 2007! Stay tuned!
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July 2007
UNDER CONSTRUCTION...
Well it's been a hell of a long time boys and girls. I've been livin' it up and trying to make my way through this crazy world. I've got a lot to update you all on and I've got a lot to catch up with on my own. Basically I'm going to overhaul this site and hopefully make it better than ever! I'll start up a whole new avenue of Video Game news and reviews, Movie and TV info, and the new addition... shameless self promotion! So, stay tuned... your old Idiot Savant is back on the web and ready to start a'new! In the meantime please go ahead and check in on my MYSPACE PAGE or my VOICE OVER PAGE to keep up-to-date until this engine gets running again!
Your host in this little corner of the web,
Travis Jones
X3, X-Men 3 The Last Stand...
So it is 2:55 am on Friday the 26th of May, 2006. I have just walked in my front door, returning from the day-early midnight showing of X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Why am I telling you this? Why jump right on the computer to report? Because the biggest news I can bring you about the movie is exactly the opposite of what I thought I'd be telling you all! The news is this: BRETT RADNER DID NOT RUIN THE X-MEN FRANCHISE!!! I know, I'm as surprised as you are. Here I thought I'd be driving home tonight having groaned my way through the muddled sludge that Radner had left us X-Men fans, but instead I'm sitting at my computer with images of fantastic fights, unbelievable superhero wars, and a general sense of satisfaction. Now let's talk storyline for a moment shall we? What the hell were the writers on when they plotted this one down on paper?! If you are a devout X-Men fan and know the comics and stories and TV shows inside-out then you have to do one thing... throw it all the hell out the window. Yes, this movie does touch on some very familiar plots and some extremely important story-lines from the X-Men universe, but they have completely rewritten all of it to conform to their own little movie. In short, it has almost been an hour and fifteen minutes since the movie ended and I am still trying to come to terms with what they did in this movie. My brain is having trouble wrapping around the way they told the story they wrote, and just exactly how they came to the conclusion to have certain things occur. I don't really know if I will understand a lot of it, but it's pretty hard for me to swallow right now. As for the action, fighting, and special effects of the characters and their mutant powers, the home run they hit still hasn't landed. Each character's powers were wonderfully brought to life, and the Alcatraz scenes were awe inspiring. I don't know if I'll ever be able to come to terms with the story of X-Men 3 but I'll never call it a bad movie, nor will I be skeptical of Brett Radner (for the next few months at least), and I will always love the way they showed off the mutant powers so gracefully. Bottom line, I'll be seeing this movie at least a couple more times before its run is over at the box office.
E3 Wrap Up...
Well kids... it's all over. E3 2006 has come and past, and we're all left dreaming about the good, the bad, and the ugly. This E3 seemed to be a little lack luster compared to last year's. Whether it was the missing extra 5,000 people, or the emergence of a questionable price point on a certain new console, something was missing from the mystique that is E3. But, and this is a good but, we also had the opportunity to see some absolutely amazing things this year. The emergence of a show stopper where the thought of a weaker runt in the next-gen console war once existed, the sign that maybe coming out with the first next-gen doesn't necessarily mean you won't be able to compete with those coming up with systems after yours. And, yes, I know what you're all thinking... how the hell can you be wrapping up E3 when you haven't really covered it yet?! Well it's been a long three days folks, and I'm only one man covering the biggest video game event in the world. Don't worry, you've got a quick overview here for now, I'm constantly streaming new videos and pictures as we speak to my moblog of all I experienced, and over the next couple of days you'll be getting my in depth reviews of the three major players and a horde of video games for each new system. In the meantime, let me give you what I considered to be the blockbusters of this E3 experience.
# 1 WINNER!!!
Nintendo... Nintendo unveiled the questionable Nintendo Revolution, now officially named the 
Wii, to an onslaught of both excited and suspicious gamers this year at E3. The questions arose from the emergence (or no emergence) of any real information out of the Nintendo house, the knowledge that the console would definitely not compare in graphics quality to the other two next-gen consoles, and that Nintendo, until recently, only gave us the information that it would "wow" us. Well with the new news that Nintendo would have a motion sensitive controller which you would use in a whole new interactive way to control the games you play and that the price point for the console would definitely be somewhere between $250 and $300, things have become a little more interesting. Well apparently Nintendo has been burning the midnight oil on the Wii. This year at E3 the Nintendo Wii was easily the most innovative and most popular video game system in the convention center. Nintendo's booth was packed with a consistent 4 hour wait line each of the three days the floor was open to exhibit viewers, and with good reason. The Wii was definitely the show stopper Nintendo was hoping for as it made for new, inventive, and never before seen game-play. The wireless, motion sensor controller was more responsive and sensitive than anyone could have expected with people often making fools of themselves on the show floor flailing their arms around as if in some kind of convulsion. What turned out to be truth was that the controller took only a couple minutes of game play to get a grasp of the play control, and that each game
presented seemed to use some unique (and quite cool) features of the motion sensor. Whether it be a shake, a rattle, a jab, or a slash, all motions achieved precise execution and an extra feeling of immersion and interactivity, in short the controller blew everyone away with how well it really worked. What was even more surprising was the "inferior" graphics which everyone thought might be the undoing of the console. Yes, it is true, the graphics do not match up to the PS3's or the 360's, but not a single person in the convention hall cared one little bit, nor did I. The graphics are actually quite good... they may only be a slight step above that of the Gamecube, but they get the job done. And keep in mind that the games being displayed at E3 were still under development and have many more months of polishing and refining. As far as sweeping the crowd off their feet and surprising the entire audience, Nintendo cleaned house.
# 2 Winner! TIE!!!
Gears Of War... Cliffy B came out with a hands down winner on this one. And that's saying a lot 
due to the fact that I never did get a hands on experience with the game. I instead only got to see the beautiful demo and movie trailer they had over at the Microsoft uber-massive booth. Gears of War is being described as a "cover shooter" or as Cliffy B put it "stop and pop." This means you don't get to do the typical run and gun, or the oh so bland circle and shoot at your opponent, or the banish-able bunny hopping. This game will punish you for those kinds of moves. You have to pick your places carefully, you have to use cover to your advantage and you have to use that sick chainsaw mounted on the bottom of the barrel of your gun to carve up the face of your enemy... eww, gory and cool, that equals happiness. This game seems to be playing wonderfully, looks like nothing you've played before, and has one of the most beautiful renderings I've ever seen. In short, this game looks freaking sweet! Keep your eyes out for this one, as it's already got my best game vote for E3 2006.
Spore... Will Wright has walked into the LA Convention Center before, and he's controlled the house like it was one of his happy little Sim's dwellings. Well, Will strolled on in this year and he took over the place like only Mr. Wright can. Spore is being described by Mr. Wright as the very first
"Massively Single Player" game with the idea of "how one life can impact the universe" and in doing so, giving the player the opportunity to create the world, the planet, the plants, and species, and animals, and... whew... you pretty much design every single little aspect of the game to progress your planet from a microscopic one celled organism to the most advanced inter-galactic beings around. While you're creating all this crazy life on one or more planets in the universe, Mr. Wright and his cohorts will be "collecting all the creativity of each player on their servers and redistributing all of them back into the game therefore becoming a part of the overall universe" for each player to interact with and experience. Even though you may never interact with any other gamers like in a MMO, you will interact with their planets, and species, every planet and species that exists in the game will act and reflect exactly how the gamer who invented them has played them to that point. Will Wright has hit absolute gold with this game, and it gets my E3 2006 game of the year vote!
Other Winners!
Don't get me wrong I could go on for hours with you guys about how I could break down each and every game I had the privilege of playing this year, and how (or how not, eh) each game made my best of E3 list and how I can't wait for it to hit my greedy little hands. So without giving into the urge to review every single game for the next 72 hours straight, let me throw some titles at you that really caught my eye.
Xbox 360 Game Line-up... I'm throwing a hell of a lot of games into this little slot, but if you saw what I saw, you'd understand why. Let's talk, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Too Human, Lost Planet, Crackdown, Prey, Mass Effect, Huxley, ChromeHounds, Fable 2, you know what? honestly? this list could keep going for the next five pages and the reason is because developers and Microsoft have finally started unleashing the full potential of the 360's hardware. Oh, and one more thing... how about a guy name Master Chief??? Yeah, that's right, Halo 3.
Nintendo Wii Line-up... What did Nintendo bring to the table with their Wii? How about Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Brothers Galaxy, The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, Red Steel, and in the most surprising and blind-siding announcement (behind closed doors) Super Smash Brothers Brawl including Snake of MGS and Samus of Metroid as playable characters?! Uh, I need a change of shorts now...
PS3 Line-up... There is only one title to really put here that out shined all the rest in the now floundering PS3 debacle (I only call it a debacle due to the utterly craptacular press conference they had on Tuesday). Heavenly Sword, sure it might be a female version of God of War, but god damn, that game looked beautiful, at 70% completion I might add. It's fluid, it's pretty, and it has finishing moves much like that of God, but they are really cool looking. Did I mention this game looks pretty? Resistance: Fall of Man was looking pretty amazing as the FPS coming out of the Insomniac camp, that same team whom have been churning out the Ratchet and Clank series. Assassin's Creed looked just as good as Heavenly Sword. It looks to be fairly unique, I've only seen the trailer, but good golly it had the entire audience captivated throughout. I can not wait to see where this one goes. Warhawk is the one game out there utilizing the 6 degrees of motion sensor now built into the PS3 controller (somewhat like another controller we've all heard about). Jokes about plagiarism aside, Warhawk is looking pretty cool with the available movement through the controller and we'll just have to wait to see how this one turns out. Also looking like it could turn into a great title for the PS3 is Metal Gear Solid 4, Snake's still looking like a mean s.o.b. and with Hideo working on that bad boy, you know it's going to be bad ass.
That's all I've got for now you greedy little bastards! Go online, check my moblog for videos and pictures, hit all the video game sites for more news, quench your thirst for E3 goodness, and stay tuned for the rest of my E3 breakdown coming over the next few days. Until then my faithful friends? Live, love, and enjoy... err... rather, kill, explode, and destroy... I guess it just depends on what kind of game you're playing... Game On.
It's May, It's L.A., It's E3...
Well, another May has come to our greedy little tech and gamer hands and it's time for another installment of E3! The pre-show conferences have already started, developers, designers, and CEO's have started touting how great they all are for the year of 2006 and beyond. Soon Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday will bring the thousands of industry insiders and crazed fans alike to feast on the pixelated glamor. So let's begin the fun!
The PS3 pre-show started with a slight bang as the official pricing was released for the U.S. market, the new, err, old, umm, well the controller was presented and a look at a PS3 game in motion was unveiled to the crowd. The PS3 will be starting at $499 for the lower grade 20 gig version, which has many less bells and whistles than its $599 60 gig bigger brother. The official release date 
has been set at November 17th 2006. Now to start ripping on Sony. Poor Sony (not so much) had what most people are considering to be a lack-luster performance at best. They stuck the price of the PS3 higher than most gamers were wanting to spend, then when everyone got sight of the actual rundown of features for the two systems, the audience was let down when it was realized that the $499 20 gig version of the PS3 will not include slots for memory cards, will not include HDMI support, and will not have Wi-Fi capabilities. So... you're going to be getting what again? It seems the only rational choice for the PS3 will be the inflated $599 version (at least then you'll be getting everything you should be getting originally, regardless of price break).
If the two versions of the system weren't enough to leave your head shaking in disappointment, they then had to whip out the "new" PS3 controller. Which as you can see... ain't new at all!!! Let's see, oh! It looks as though Sony has come up with a totally new and previously completely unimagined motion sensor for their "new" controller! (expect Nintendo suit shortly) The only problem with the said motion control added to the controller? How about they had to remove all rumble (dual shock) features to the controller due to the fact that it interfered with the motion sensor. So, not
only does it seem they might have "borrowed" the idea of movement control but it doesn't really work well enough to evolve the video game experience, rather it's going to take away part of the advancements they had already made with the dual shock. Boo Sony, boo. The controller will be wireless and will have the ability to connect to the system via USB wire for play and recharging. Other than that, there's not much to report. The L2 and R2 buttons are bigger. There are four lights on the top of the controller between the shoulder buttons suggesting four controllers can be used at a time. And there was something that looked pretty damn close to a "guide" button in the center of the controller between the start and select buttons a la Xbox360 controller style. Overall, Sony gets a C- for their pre-show conference at this time. But they always have a humongous booth, if you can even call their football field sized monument a booth anymore, chock full of games and gadgets so they have chance to redeem themselves come show floor time in the next three days.
Well boys and girls, welcome to the first post on E3 this year, and stay tuned for more articles, blogs, photos, and what's this? is it possibly video? Stay tuned all as E3 hits the world for 2006.
Joss Whedon is a god, Transformers a step closer, Digg Top 100, Your inner geek...
Joss Whedon gave an interview about Serenity and Firefly. He speaks of the future of the wonderful enterprise and whether a return to the big screen or Television is possible. Joss Whedon Interview
What the hell?! What happened to the Transformer footage Travis?! Why the hell is it gone?! How about this... god I can't believe I'm admitting this... I got duped. My excitement over the new Transformers footage got the best of me and I didn't research
enough, so now I have to retract it as a fake. Sorry guys, gotta keep waiting on this one. -T Check out the link to find out more... FanFilm Producer Post (Thanks to Walter for the head's up on this one)
Yes, I've got to toot my own horn... my digg story held somewhat strong to reach the top 100 list of digg stories of 2005. I had been lucky enough to stumble on Leo Laporte's announcement about the return of Call For Help to the United States on G4 TV (yuck) (not CFH, G4... bleh) digg.com top 100 stories in 2005
And this last one is just a spot of fun for anyone who considers themselves a geek. I took the test and came across as an extreme geek (yay for me), just two steps away from needing serious help. Take the test and see where you compare. There's some seriously fun stuff on there 
that you'll be able to reminisce about and laugh about. Go Geeks! The Geek Test
New Designs ahoy!
Okay ladies and gentlemen... finally came back at ya with the new look for the website... let me know what you all think! E-mail me and pass judgement on the new hotness... or fugly nothingness as the case might be. Either way, drop me a line on your opinions... lord knows I give you mine. Travis at gmail
