Phoenix Ignition News

A7X Nightmare Album Leaked On The Internet

Michael Smith — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:17:19 +0000

Apparently a couple days ago Avenged Sevenfold’s new album Nightmare leaked out onto the internet. The album was being taken at numerous sites within 20 minutes of it being uploaded. However, more and more links have been going up to which shows that Warner Brothers obviously can’t keep up with containing the leak.

So for all you illegal music downloaders, have at it. Just remember not to tell the RIAA.

We in no way condone illegal music downloading, but we will report about it.

The Best Starcraft 2 Trailer…Period.

Michael Smith — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:22:12 +0000

If you were not that excited to play the single player campaign of Starcraft 2, you will be now. This trailer looks like it could be for a movie releasing next week, only better than any movie thats come out this year. The trailer is called “Ghosts of the past” and was released as part of the website unlockable content for people who liked on Facebook the Starcraft 2 page. I cant even put into words how fucking insane this trailer is. The story is going to be a mazing from the looks of it.

All I can say is that you have to watch this trailer. Even if your not a Starcraft fan, you will want to be once the trailer finishes. I almost just wish it wouldn’t end.

[Starcraft 2]

Activision Might F**k Over The CoD Franchise

Michael Smith — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:38:30 +0000

Get ready to be charged up the ass by Activision to play your FPS online. It has been rumored for a while that Activision wanted to charge players of the game for playing online because they feel they don’t get enough compensation for how much time people spend playing it online. Apparently everyone buying all the map packs are still not enough added revenue. This rumor is now even more close to certain than most of us would like to see.

Recently a video appeared on YouTube that shows an Xbox dashboard screen purchasing a membership card. While Activision doesn’t deny the fact that they are moving in this direction for online play, Digital Trends reported that an Activision execs Twitter saying that Modern Warfare 2 will remain free. However, how this will fare for future Call of Duty titles remains to be seen.

My personal opinion is that if Activision does this, it will be the demise of the Call of Duty franchise. MMO online subscription models don’t work for FPS titles. You don’t get enough content to make it even worth the $15 a month. EA would more than likely love for this to happen because all it will do is drive more gammers to go to the still free Medal of Honor.

Here’s the video that was posted on YouTube for viewing displeasure.

[Digital Trends]

Avenged Sevenfold’s “Nightmare” Aired This Weekend

Michael Smith — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:45:13 +0000

Continuing on the amazing weekend in music that I just recently had, another favorite of mine just released their new music video to the single “Nightmare” on Saturday. It aired on MTV2 and has now been posted on YouTube.

The video stands as a small tribute to the man known as The Rev. After the tragic events of last year, its a no brainer that they would include something to remember him in this video. The video starts off showing M. Shadows newest tattoo of a death bat that resembles The Rev. Then the video ends with an empty drumset; which I think was a very powerful and good way to end the video.

“Nightmare” was written by The Rev before he died and all I have to say is that he did it again. Its a great song that I will be listening to for a while.

E-mail any comments, suggestions, or feedback directly to me at MikeJS1988@gmail.com.

The Dig’s Ending Song In Pomona Was Pretty Good

Michael Smith — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:43:42 +0000

The Dig, the opening band for Thrice in Pomona, wasn’t half bad. Of the three bands that played before Thrice came on, I enjoyed them the most. The last song they played being my favorite. I am not sure exactly what the name of the song was; all I know is that it was the coolest.

For the song, everyone that was backstage pretty much came out and started banging on something. Bringing on stage plastic tubs, drums, and boxes. Teppei also was playing guitar during the song as well. You can watch the song in its entirety down below, and anyone that knows the name of the song is more than welcome to leave it in the comments below.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

E-mail any comments, suggestions, or feedback directly to me at MikeJS1988@gmail.com.

Thrice Show Last Night In Pomona

Michael Smith — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:41:04 +0000

A small fraction of the massive crowd.

Last night’s show at the Fox Theater was more than I could have expected. Everything about the show was on point. The sound was perfect, the set list was amazing, and everyone in the crowd was chanting practically every song.

They played songs that were from basically all of their albums. They even played “Helter Skelter” which is an amazing song to hear live. I recorded what I could, but basically if it got too crazy during the breakdowns I would put my phone away. I love Thrice, but losing or breaking my iPhone 4 would of just ruined my night. So I pieced together what I got from the show for all of you who wanted to go but couldn’t. I know I had a few friends who were dying to go but work wasn’t being as accommodating as they were hoping.

One thing I learned last night is that if you going to see Thrice play, make sure you do it in their hometown of Pomona.

So here is some of the video I was able to get from last night. Enjoy.

E-mail any comments, suggestions, or feedback directly to me at MikeJS1988@gmail.com.

Thrice Show Tonight In Pomona

Michael Smith — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:31:50 +0000

Well its finally time to head out to Pomona to go see Thrice play at the fox theater. This will be a perfect opportunity to test out the iPhone’s HD video recording. Ill do my best to post any video or pictures as soon as I can.

E-mail any comments, suggestions, or feedback directly to me at MikeJS1988@gmail.com.

The iPhone 4 Antenna Issue Saga Continues Today

Michael Smith — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:02:24 +0000

The 90's approach to a 2010 problem.

Well today is the day. All of us who camped out or got lucky with the shipping pre-orders will finally know what Apple is going to do about the antenna problem a lot of people have been having. I’ll be listening in at 10:00 AM pacific time on Engadget.

Some say there will be a recall. Possible, but unlikely given the high price tag it would require to go through something like that. The more likely approach is that everyone would receive free bumpers; since these have been shown to alleviate the problem and only cost about a dollar a piece. Living in a high coverage area for AT&T I haven’t ever really dropped any calls because of the “death grip” in my daily use. However, its obvious that it greatly degrades the signal the phone is getting.

My biggest problem though has been the proximity sensor. 1 out of every 10 calls or so i make, the proximity sensor either doesn’t turn the screen off all the way or leaves the touch aspect on and mutes my call. I can never replicate it on purpose, it just happens.

Apple can’t afford to sit back and just let it work itself out. As passionate as Apple fanboys can get about their new products, they can easily get just as pissed off when the company doesn’t fix the problems that it created.

E-mail any comments, suggestions, or feedback directly to me at MikeJS1988@gmail.com.

Start Downloading Starcraft 2 Now

Michael Smith — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:24:54 +0000

For thoose that are planing on downloading a digital copy of Starcraft 2, you can download the full client now. Not playable of course, but all you’ll have to do is buy it on launch day and get the activation code. This way you can avoid the inevitable slow download speeds that launch day will have and just buy and play right at 10 AM on July 27th.

To download the full client just go here and then get ready for the madness bound to ensue on July 27th.

E-mail any comments, suggestions, or feedback directly to me at MikeJS1988@gmail.com.

What I’ve noticed Since The Starcraft Beta Started Up Again

Michael Smith — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:38:15 +0000

Since the beta has started up again for the second phase of testing; I have noticed a couple things. Most of which are centered on the fact I really need to practice. Whether my recent lack of skill is do to not having played recently or that the rankings are still forming as good players work their way up the ladders, I am still going to express my experience with this second phase testing.

I suck ass at Terran- I use to be the best with them, now I just suck horribly and have only won once with them the past 10 games. Either I just really got rusty over the break and others for some reason got better, or the new way of balancing just fucked up my entire strategy. I use to be able to mass battle cruisers and win about 3 out of 4 times. Now though I’m lucky to get 3 before I die in the fires of humiliation. Guess its back to the dungeon to formulate my next game winning strategy.

Everything is more fast paced- You really have to strategize about every move you make and almost get it down to a science. Your enemies will rush the hell out of you right out the gate. Harass you while being able to maintain their base operations. So basically you have to train yourself to think(and click) extremely fast.

Most the time your paired against someone using the same race- I’m not sure whether or not this a prevalent issue or not, but it happens to me almost every time. In matchmaking I versus the same exact race that I choose almost every time I play. Yet when I go and do a 1v1 in custom game I don’t.

I can’t wait to play the campaign- This is what I am really looking forward to. The campaign the way Blizzard describes is going to be nothing like we have ever seen before. The original Starcraft had an amazing story line and I am expecting nothing less with the sequel.

Either way, I am excited for Starcraft to officially launch in a couple weeks even though I am performing horribly in the multiplayer at the moment. I have waited over a decade for this game to launch and I can already tell that it will be taking up a lot of my free time for the rest of 2010.