Movie Review - Contagion

I am a bit of a connoisseur of apocalypse movies, television shows, and books. I love the stories about how society/humanity gets destroyed and about how the people left behind have to begin to deal with the "restructuring" of their problems.

Warning! I might have a few spoilers here that some folks would not appreciate!

Contagion stands out as a bit of a spin on the subject; the whole movie exists in the space between Day 0 and day 200. Its the story of the decline - not just the story of the aftermath. What's more is that the movie does an amazing job of creating a reality that we all live in everyday. Which it then summarily disassembles right in front of us causing us to question the assertions we work off of everyday. The movie's virus kills in 4 days and can be transmitted in many, many ways. Making it virtually impossible to remain uninfected if you have been in contact with someone who has. All of the key reactions you can wonder about have been covered, the CDC, government, blogosphere, facebook, municipalities, local neighborhoods - the story is very thorough in leaving no stone unturned from an apocalypse geek perspective.

The real genius of Contagion is the presentation of the horror angle - it could really happen; and Contagion tells a story about what it might look like if it did, and it looks very scary. It is expertly directed and performed by an amazing cast of people who make it look effortless. Finally - I think you should see it in the theatre so that you get a real feeling for the scale of the epidemic. The small screen may take a little bit away from that...

Dead Island Shouldn't Be So Fun

Fantastic teaser trailer aside (which, by the way, has little to do with the game), Dead Island really shouldn't be as fun as it is. It's a first person hack and slash, punctuated by fetch missions and endless backtracking with a bit of weapon customization thrown in. Even the premise is gimicky: it's a zombie outbreak, but this time it happens at an island resort. On the surface, you'd even think it's an L4D wannabe. But you have to look closer to see what makes it so great.

First off, it's friggin scary. Like, SCARY. The noises the zombies make is the stuff of nightmares, especially if you have surround sound. Dead Island draws you in to the point that you actually get concerned about dying. The cast of characters ranges from those afraid of being zombified, and Euro-Trash blondes wanting only to get drunk and party.

And then there's the melee-heavy combat. Zombies are in your face constantly, and you're fighting them off with a stick. It doesn't get more up close and personal than that. And the noises that the zombies make...did I mention that?  Dear Lord, the NOISES...

Do yourself a favor while I spend a few minutes pulling myself out of the fetal position: buy Dead Island and experience it for yourself.

FragFX Shark 360

Mice are more accurate than joysticks; ask Smitty - he will tell you.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way. The new splitfish controller is out for the 360 this week and I have to say that I am kinda jealous. As an exclusively PS3 household we don't get these super PC gamer focused peripherals. I was born on the PC as a gamer and everyone is much more precise with a mouse than they are with a joystick...

Intrepid PS3 players have an option with the Piranha from splitfish - but it is riddled with wires. Perhaps a wireless version is in the works...

http://splitfish.com/index.php/en/products/fragfx-shark-360

Vita, The Clown Tablet, and Handhelds...

Smitty reported earlier that the Vita has been announced as having some of the same functionality as the WiiU. The key functionality being streaming content from the game console to the handheld device.

I think that is interesting but before I define or defend my position; a little history. I don't like handheld gaming systems; you would not know that from the long list of devices I have owned.

Original Game Boy

TurboGraphix Turbo Express

Sega Game Gear

Atari Lynx

Sony PSP

I have had every (worthwhile) handheld - Stuff it Nintendo Fanboiz - the handheld made sense to me when I could get games like "A.P.B." on the Lynx that you couldnt get anywhere else but the arcade. When it became about creating "mini-games" from known franchises on the console I was completely dis-interested. I have never been able to justify to myself purchasing a copy of "God of War PSP" or whatever because it was supposed to be this awesome God of War experience...

So as a result my PSP is completely disused and if I could get my 250 back I would have years ago.

So - the Vita - clearly I am out. Right?

There is a rub here; the more I read about the Vita and its features the more I wonder whether or not Sony has realized that the Apple model works. If you sell me a Vita and enable it to utilize a ton of my PS3 features on it then you have been successful. I dont need the Vita to be my phone - but I can tell you that having the ability to stream television to and from my iPad with Airplay has been awesome. I am very interested in this sort of functionality for my gaming console.

Like Smitty - the Vita has to have free software. I dont care if it has the power to play picture perfect versions of existing and future PS3 games unless they come with the disc for the PS3 that I am already buying. I WILL NOT pay twice for the "privilege" of playing the games I already own on a mobile device. Make your money on the device and enable AAA titles to be pack-in for the Vita @ retail PS3 purchase. That is the only way Sony is going to get anymore of my mind-share. Until then Ill be on my iOS device(s) wondering what all the hub-bub is about...

~ K

P.s. The Clown Tablet - Really Nintendo? Let me help you out with something - Apple already has the table market handled, your niche is the game-time my kids spend playing and I will be damned if I will buy them two WiiUs so that I can have a sane household full of Clown Tablets. I am sure you will be a hit with the single child families - that sounds like an awesome market segment.

PS Vita > Wii U?

 
So, news broke today that the PS Vita will be able to perform many of the same functions as the Wii U controller (or "clown tablet", as we call it). We're talking about streaming information, acting as a screen if the TV is in use, all that stuff.  However, the Vita is a standalone game system that you can bring anywhere, whereas the clown tablet pretty much needs to stay in the same place as the Wii U console.  As someone who's really interested in the Vita, this is welcome news. 

I have young kids in my house, and I'm not the kind of dad who would let them sit there and watch daddy spray some dude's brains all over the wall, tear someone's spine out, or be chased down and killed by various monsters. However, if the PS Vita makes it possible to stream any game from the PS3, that would be huge for me. But it's not quite enough to push me over the edge to make me commit to buying the thing.

K-Diesel and I have been talking and trying to come up with a list of features that would make the PS Vita something that we'd put money down on right now. To be honest, it's probably me who's taking it more seriously since Krizzle is being a PC snob lately. Anyway, I'd commit 100% to buying a PS Vita if the following were true:

• The functionality must be there for the PS3 to stream any game to the PS Vita while within range of the PS3s WiFi (this includes online games like shooters and the like)

• The games that are on PS vita alone (and not the PS3) must cost no more than $40

• For the games that you can play across the PS Vita and that PS3 (such as the upcoming action RPG Ruin), the portable version must be packaged free with the PS3 version

• The battery life must be at least equal to the PSPGo

That's all it would take to get me to mail my wallet to Sony right this minute.