Hugo

I’m of two minds when it comes to Hugo and am never sure which mind should win the battle. On the surface; “Hugo” is a heart-warming (yet shallow) tale of an orphaned young man named Hugo and his adventures working in the clock tower of a bustling Parisian train station. Yet beneath this saccharine sweet exterior, Scorsese creates a film that delves into the magic of early cinema, while utilizing computer-assisted shots for a number of the movie’s visuals. Giving an artiste like Scorsese a digital box of tricks to play with has yielded a film that is a joy to drink in but also has Scorsese’s focus on a strong story at its core.

Without a doubt, the story at the core of ‘Hugo” left me with a strange desire to dig up the large catalog of silent films that I’ve just never had the gumption to view. Scorsese’s passion for film permeates ever inch of the screen as the story, as audiences watch Hugo’s quest to find the meaning behind his father’s old journal while exploring the rich history of film. But sadly, while these parts of the film was able to fill me with wonder and appreciation for the creativity of those early days, the rest of the film seemed to fall flat for me. Hugo’s side of the story, and the story’s cavalcade of “quirky” characters felt like a tacked on piece of family friendly fun meant to guide audiences from one silent film fact to another, but with little there to actually give those characters any depth. Hugo’s real triumph lies with Scorsese’s camera work and his ability to easily express his love of film, yet it fails as a forced adaptation of Brian Selznick’s novel.

Tree Of Life

I’ve had first-hand experience with films that have left me questioning my own film comprehension, and Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” is the newest entry into this short list. On the surface, “Tree Of Life” is an eclectic mix of beautiful CGI scenes and well shot flashback sequences, but it is also filled with a deeper meaning that feels just as fleeting as the seemingly random moments of 1950′s suburbia, which plays across the main stage of the movie. This film is always in a constant flux, and it is up the the viewer to either spend time attempting to decipher this cacophony of visual and auditory moments, or sit back and enjoy the symphony that can be pieced together once you let Malick lead the way.

By no means am I saying that I completely got the subtle meanings behind Malick’s work, but I can definitely say that I appreciated some of the film’s more serene and awe-inspiring sequences. Does that make “Tree of Life” a good film, or a triumph of art that works as a string of finely filmed and acted memories with very little narrative pulling them all together? Then again, maybe the “Tree Of Life” is a film representation of how many branches our own memories and lives have with our ownership of them being the only real trunk holding it all together. Writing this review, I realize that I’m not sure what I feel about the film, but I can admit that I did enjoy it and I am glad to have been challenged by what I experienced.

Moneyball

Moneyball’s inclusion in the Best Motion Picture category had me scratching my head as to why a sports film would find its way onto the Academy’s list. A few clicks a way had me realizing that “Moneyball” comes from a long-standing tradition of movies like, “Raging Bull,” “Seabiscuit,” and “Jerry Maguire.” The Academy has a love of movies that feature underdog stories and the sports movie genre provides the perfect framework for these types of stories. “Moneyball” not only provides a gripping underdog story, it also parallels the frustrations we all have against the audacity of Big  Business ideals. The story behind “Moneyball” is based on the Oakland A’s 2002 baseball season and their unorthodox approach to creating a winning team through statistics rather than a huge bankroll.

I will start off with saying that I enjoyed the journey that “Moneyball” provided and that I was moved by the theatrics of the A’s epic run for the World Series. On its own, “Moneyball” is an entertaining movie that has good performances and a story that will have you rooting for a team that just doesn’t look like it could gain traction. I was at the edge of my seat as I watched the A’s history making winning streak unfold and held my head in my hands as they struggled through their rough start. The Oakland A’s rise to glory on their own merit rather than off the might of the dollar is a story we can all appreciate and “Moneyball” milks it for every bit of its worth.

The satisfaction I’ve felt watching the top Motion Picture nominees of the year has continued with these three films. Each of these films provide a unique experience that was distinctly felt with my viewing of “Tree Of Life,” and I feel lucky to have had a chance to partake in the experiment that Terrence Malick has performed on his audience. While that has a certain place in art house cinema, I feel the Academy usually sets its eyes on movies that provide more substantial narrative experiences, and both “Hugo” and “Moneyball” provide better stories than “Tree Of Life.” Regardless of my agreement with the choices the Academy has made, I can easily see the merit each of these films have.

Source: My Nintendo News

We have a lot of information for the Darksider II fans out there. First up we have some information about the upcoming novel The Abomination Vault that is set to launch the same time as the much anticipated game is.

Here is a little more about The Abomination Vault.

In DARKSIDERS: THE ABOMINATION VAULT, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (beings charged with maintaining the Balance between the forces of Heaven and Hell) have uncovered a plot to resurrect ancient weapons of unimaginable power. Death, with the help of his compatriot War, must track down and neutralize the mysterious individuals behind the scheme before the entire universe is plunged into a devastating conflict.

Next up the Darksiders II Community forums are live. So head over to the forums to stay on top of all new information concerning the game. Also you will be able to share your ideas with the Vigil Development Team.

Now for the grand finale. The Darksiders Facebook 100,000 Fan Sweepstakes. And as you can see below there are some awesome prizes you can win by entering the sweepstakes.

That’s all we have Platform Nation and Darksiders II fans, but stay tuned to your favorite gaming website as we will be bringing you more Darksiders II information when we receive it.

This BurgerTime experience evolves the arcade classic and enhances it with a unique 3D rotating environment. Platform Nation’s Rich Montalvo has reviewed the Xbox 360 version of the game and it looks like he really enjoyed it, even if the difficulty drove him insane. Check out his review here. Also another article to check out is this really interesting interview that Rich had with John Greiner, Head of the BurgerTime development studio, Monkeypaw Games.

BurgerTime World Tour hits WiiWare on February 9 and will cost 1000 Wii Points.

This extra piece of downloadable content is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace and PC and will cost 400 MSP / $5. Here’s what you can find in the DLC pack.

• Building: Cement Factory (accelerates all constructions on the island)
• Character Trait: Constructor (free cement factory, construction workers gain skill faster)
• Character Outfit / Vanity Item: Engineer helmet (for male and female avatars)
• Mission theme: The largest city in the Caribbean – build a huge city across the whole island while fighting all kinds of disasters
• Decorations: Tropican flagpole, Small park, Flower bed 2, Flowering tree 2, Constructor statue

I don’t play Tropico 4 and I don’t plan to any time soon. From what I’ve seen of the game, it’s trees trees and more trees, so the addition of some kind of concrete to the game would be a great.

Tropico 4 Quick Dry Cement Add-on is out now on Xbox Live Marketplace and PC now.

It was inevitable, I guess, but in a way that you’d hope it would never happen, sort of like how you keep telling yourself you’re not going to eat the whole pizza, but it’s Friday and you had a rough day and…

Anyways, Battleship, the classic board game from Milton Bradley, has now gone from a movie to a video game. For me, this is one step of extrapolation too far. As far as the entire known universe is concerned, the board game had no discernible plot, characters, or setting aside from a four-sided body of water of indeterminate size that may or may not be hosting a maritime conflict. To make this a movie, this meant applying a thick slab of creativity gravy all over the offering, i.e. putting in aliens.

Now, developer Double Helix Games is concocting an entirely new story to go alongside the movie with the Battleship video game in which you play as demolitions expert Cole Mathis. How his possibly (probably?) victorious actions coincide with those of super alien-fighting duo Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna remains to be seen, but the game itself will feature the “merging of tactical and action elements” where players will “fend off the enemy beachside while ordering attacks against their marine counterpart.”

This sounds like it could be an interesting blend as the press release purports “seamlessly switching” between the two modes of play, but like I said, this is a video game based on a movie, and those don’t necessarily have a good track record, let alone those that are based on a movie that is based on a 80-year-old board game. Look for it on May 15^th for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii with portable versions from developer Magic Pockets for the 3DS and DS handhelds.

Source: Joystiq

Yesterdays upgrade to the PS3 firmware provides a speed improvement on the web-browser and new Terms of Service. Released on the PS blog today, Sony Network Entertainment VP, Eric Lempel outlined the few changes.

“First off, once you download the new system software, you will be asked to accept a change to our Terms of Service. In an effort for more unity between PlayStation Network (PSN) and other Sony Entertainment Network services, your “PSN Account” will now be named “Sony Entertainment Network Account.” Please note that this change is one in name only and will not change the PSN that you know and love. You’ll still play games online, still have access to the latest downloadable games and add-ons, and still experience a wide variety of movies, sports and music across PSN.
With this system software update (v4.10), we’ll also be updating the PS3 Internet Browser with improved display speed.”

I’m not sure who uses the web-browser on the PS3 for their main browser; but good news, it’s faster and will now display some pages that it previously could not.
The main confusion lies with the changes and unifications going on at Sony right now. To clarify, the account name is all that is changing, NOT the PSN itself. The account and the service are separate.

Here’s my take on this: Up until today there was the PSN “service” with games and movies and content, and to access it a user needed to create a PSN “account” (gamertag associated with an email). As Sony has rolls out more “services” like movies and other media, they desire to have a more unified (and service independent) “account” name. So, yesterday we logged into the PSN “service” with our PSN “account”; but tomorrow we’ll login to the PSN “service” with our SEN “account”.

So, while it is technically true the PSN had a name change it was only the account that changed, and not the beloved PSN.

Source PS Blog

Mass Effect 3 isn’t the first game to do it (not by a long shot), but one of the more interesting features it will have is the ability to import your character save file from prior Mass Effect games. This means that, for players who have journeyed through space with Commander Shephard, they will be able to see the consequences and benefits of actions in prior games. To many, this will probably give the feeling of a sense of ownership over the decisions they made (and continue to make).  You can really start to feel like you are part of the universe that is created when you know your actions will have consequences.  You understand the worlds, the characters, the situations.  You get the inside jokes. You know how your crew behaves.

But what about for people who haven’t played any of the prior games? Are you missing out by not playing previous entries in a series? Does playing Halo 3 before Halo make it less of a game? Saints Row: The Third? Gears of War 3?  It made me wonder:

If previous games of a series that you haven’t had an interest in (until the latest version) are available on your current console, what do you play first? 

(You may need to refresh the page to see the poll)

For the sake of argument, assume that the story in this series progresses from one game to the next. I’ll be honest; I got Gears of War 3 for Christmas this year, and before I even bothered opening it, I replayed the first, and played (for the first time) the second one.  I didn’t want to feel like I was missing out on something by not knowing the full backstory.  Yeah, most games today will feature primers, or do a good job through exposition to get you caught up on what’s happening, but can that 15 minutes really make up for the hours spent beating a game.  Putting your personal time and energy into the story makes the next iteration mean that much more to you.  So I guess I would say that I’d play the games in order of what’s available, rather than the latest. But then I think about a game like Assassin’s Creed. The series is incredible, and while I feel the first game lays some pretty serious groundwork for the other games in the series, it’s also the worst of the bunch by far. Most would say skip it (or play a small bit and then skip it).

Give us your take – vote above, and drop a comment below.

View previous ASQ: Staying Alive

A Simple Question (ASQ) is a weekly segment for Platform Nation.  Give a response and let the world know what you think; there is no right or wrong answer here. If you have a suggestion for a question, hit me up on twitter @vttym.

We have a unique review today; I’ll be reviewing some PC hardware, something that I haven’t been able to do in years (Mac guy). Today I’m going to be talking about and reviewing the Antec High Current Gamer 520W power supply unit. If you want to see several pictures of it, check out the unboxing post I did early today.

The unit itself is actually a nice unit. For those of you that have messed around with power supplies, you know how simple these are to install but how much of a problem they are if you don’t have one that is strong enough. The install was simple, 4 screws, just like every other PSU out there. The next part of the install was obvious, hooking everything up to it. The HCG-520M has one of the less clutter/cable management types of system where all the cables detach from the PSU itself so you only have to use what you need. This type of system here is really what you want because you only have cables in your case that you need. It takes any excess out which then helps with opening things up for a better air flow inside your PC, and let us not forget just how much better it also looks. You don’t really want a rat nest inside your case. I did have a small problem with the cable management system though, but that’s really because it’s only a 520W unit, it only comes with one set of the PCI-E cables. Most likely you won’t need more than this, especially if you only need 520W’s, but it would have been nice for one more.

After the install I fired up my personal gaming PC; you can see its specs here (I have a few other things installed as well, like another HDD, USB hubs, and several USB powered devices). It stared up without problems. I wasn’t quite sure if the HCG-520M would have enough power to keep everything going but I had 0 hiccups. Alright, now that that’s done, how about if I overclock it a little bit. Again, not a problem. So I figured I’d put max my PC out with some benchmark tests, surely this would really draw some major watts. And yet again, not an issue, nothing. The PSU itself was cool to the touch. Not bad, not bad at all.

Antec’s HCG-520M really surprised me. I really didn’t think it would have enough juice it in to power everything under a long load. What sucks even more is that I spent around $140 on my Corsair CMPSU-750HX which I love but I could have went ahead and picked up the HCG-520M for about $50 cheaper as Energy sells it for $90.

Steve’s Final Thoughts: The Antec HCG-520M is a really nice PSU that’s made for the budget gaming PC. It’s affordable, and yet, has all the perks of the more expensive PSU: high continuous power (520W), a really nice cable management system, and the Antec name backing it. If you’re in the market for a budget PSU, you’ll be lucky to get such a great bang for your buck then what the HCG-520M is offering.

Here’s all of the official specs:

• 520 watts of Continuous Power
• 80 PLUS® Bronze certified — up to 87% efficient
• High Current Hybrid Cable Management — special 10-pin and 5-pin modular connectors for High Current rail
• Quiet 135 mm Double Ball Bearing cooling fan
• Stealth Wires: all wires darkened for minimal visibility in chassis
• All Japanese brand capacitors for reliability
• Thermal Manager: an advanced low voltage fan control for optimal heat & noise management
• Up to 90% power available on +12V rail
• ATX12V version 2.32 and EPS12V version 2.92 compliant
• Heavy-duty protection circuitry on all rails prevents damage from a variety of dangers:
• AQ5 — Antec Quality 5 year limited warranty on parts and labor
• MTBF: 100,000 hrs

Side Note: If you’re in the market for a CPU cooler, check out Antec’s KÜHLER H₂O 620. I bought that for my PC when I built to keep my Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core cool. Even with me overclocking my i5-2500k, it’s cooler then it running normal with the stock cooler. The other two great things about the KÜHLER H₂O 620 is its price because you can get it for only about $55, and the fact that it’s zero maintenance. You install it, it works, nothing else to do with its liquid cooling system. Ever.

Not only has the Creation Kit been released, but Bethesda have also released a High-Resolution Texture Pack for download which makes the game look…better! If your PC can handle the texture pack then I recommend this as a download to make your Skyrim experience look even more gorgeous.

For more information on the Skyrim Creation Kit check out this post. Hopefully I’ll be able to check out some of the great mods that have been released so far. (apparently there is a Wheatley from Portal 2 mod that makes a floating Wheatley follow you around Skyrim, awesome right?).