Author Archive for Russ Crandall

13
Jan
10

I’ve never been so happy to play Wii in my life

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Editorials and Games
Tags: ,


Last week I hooked up my Wii by trying to use it in a European plug with a cheap, $10 AC volt converter. After about ten minutes of play the little converter shorted, taking my Wii’s AC adapter with it in a smoky, fried mess. Mercifully, Amazon sells a Wii AC adapter that accepts both 110v and 240v, which you can get here for $18.

It arrived in the mail today (one week shipping to a military address in Germany, not bad) and I immediately popped in Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, hoping to convert some zombies into a lathery pile of oozy, passive-aggressive revenge. Turns out the controls are hard as HELL to jump right into and I was pitchforked in no time.

Hmmmph. On to Wii Sports Resort.

06
Jan
10

Call of Duty: Vietnam

By Russ Crandall 4 Comments
Categories: Games and News
Tags: ,


Destructoid has posted an unsourced rumor that the next Treyarch-produced Call of Duty game, most definitely coming out near the end of this year, will be set in Vietnam.

The first thing that came to my mind is the fact that I was mildly offended by the nearly-categorically-racist portrayal of Japanese soldiers in Treyarch’s last game, Call of Duty: World at War. So now we’re going to see a racist portrayal of Vietnamese, eh?

Actually, if they get the foliage right it might be a pretty good game. It’s an inevitability that another Call of Duty game will be arriving this year, so the least they could do is change it up a bit with a new era. Although Call of Duty: The American Revolution sounds waaaay better.

02
Jan
10

My “Gameplan” For The Next Six Weeks

By Russ Crandall 3 Comments
Categories: Editorials and Games
Tags: , , ,


Today I fly out to Germany for the next six weeks. Aside from the horrible fact (for you) that I won’t be on the podcast for the next six episodes, I’m also severely limited in my future gaming experiences. See, I’ve only got room for one console in my bags, and I’m taking my Wii because it’s the smallest. I’m going to try and finish all the games I have, and finally get my money out of them.

Here’s the list:
Okami
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Paper Mario
Wii Sports
Wii Sports Resort

At the very least, I plan on beating Super Mario Galaxy and making Metroid Prime 3 my bitch. Other than that, who knows. Looking at the list now, it sure looks pretty bare-boned for six weeks of gameplay. Luckily, I’ll be busy traveling Bavaria and won’t notice.

It gets even more depressing when I look at the list of game releases I’m missing: Bayonetta, Darksiders, Dark Void, Mass Effect 2, MAG, BioShock 2, Dante’s Inferno, and Aliens Vs. Predator. Woe is me!

01
Jan
10

100 Best iPhone Apps of 2009

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Apple, Internet and Music
Tags:


If you’re a new iPhone owner, or you just don’t scour the App Store every five minutes, you may have missed out on the thousands of apps available today. Luckly, Mac|Life released their 100 Greatest iPhone Apps of 2009 list, and it’s a great introductory list as well as great way to catch up on those apps you might have missed.

Most of the apps on this list are good deals, although there are a few deadbeats in there as well ($20 for Wolfram Alpha, when I can go to it on Safari for free?). For instance, I’m still waiting for the GPS apps to go down in price, personally. But according to the list, Peggle is only $2 right now, so I’d jump on that with a quickness.

One glaring omission is the last.fm app, which is one of the best ways to experience new music for free.

01
Jan
10

Film Review: Paranormal Activity

By Russ Crandall 1 Comment
Categories: Movies and Reviews
Tags:


Get used to this view.

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months, Paranormal Activity is a 2007 film that was just recently released in US theaters and released on DVD/Blu-Ray last week. It’s shot documentary-style, like an unfunny version of The Office. It follows the story of a couple who think they are haunted. Obviously, some shit goes down, because otherwise this would be a very, very boring film.

That being said, if you watch this film at home, it can quickly turn into something very, very boring. A quick text to a friend or pause for some mid-movie tinkling can ruin the experience. Where Paranormal Activity succeeds is in its slow, measured and terrifying escalation, all convincingly done through the two actors (who use their real-life names, btw) and virtually no special effects. I love the fact that this movie was filmed for $15,000, in one week and in the director’s home. I wonder if he has trouble sleeping at night now? For being a handheld-cam movie, there’s hardly any shaky moments, which is a blessing. The version I saw was had the theatrical ending (of the three that are available), but by the time the ending comes around, it doesn’t really matter. It’s the experience that brought you there that counts.

Amazingly enough, I thought Paranormal Activity lived up pretty well to its hype; I was never truly scared, but I was definitely uneasy the entire time. Definitely a movie you can only truly enjoy once, I’d say it’s a worthy rental.

01
Jan
10

My Faves: Top “Found Sounds” of 2009

By Russ Crandall 1 Comment
Categories: Music and My Faves


Every year, I stumble upon albums that weren’t released that year but are still damn good. Some are new acquisitions, some are albums that I’ve had for a while but never gave them their due; either way, here is my list of non-2009 albums that were part of my 2009.

Continue reading ‘My Faves: Top “Found Sounds” of 2009′

31
Dec
09

No Podcast This Week

By Russ Crandall 2 Comments
Categories: Threecasts


Due to some technical difficulties, scheduling conflicts, and general malaise, we won’t have another podcast for you until next week. But look at it this way – next week’s podcast will be the best podcast you’ve heard from us all year.

31
Dec
09

Cheapskate: BF1943 for $7.50 Today Only

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Cheapskate and Games
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Hi, let me put this to you as delicately as possible. For today only, Microsoft is discounting its XBLA game Battlefield 1943 by 50%, to 600 Microsoft Points ($7.50). When this game came out this past summer, all of us here at Threevue HQ firmly believed that it was worth its original $15 price point.

At $7.50, you’d have to be some sort of idiot to not snatch it up today.

28
Dec
09

Impressions: Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

By Russ Crandall 2 Comments
Categories: Impressions
Tags: , , , ,


Tell you what, this is the best $10 gaming experience I’ve had in a while. As you may already know, Assault on Dark Athena is a current-gen FPS that received pretty solid (if mediocre-leaning) reviews, but it comes with the much-lauded last-gen Xbox game Escape from Butch Bay. I’ve only played about a third of Butcher Bay, but this game is worth its weight in gold, in and of itself.

Butcher Bay is a great mix of FPS and stealth, with some really interesting variety. You’d think that simply escaping from one prison would be a boring premise, but it’s executed really well. Even if Dark Athena is more of the same, I’m all for it. The controls are a little weird, much like they were in The Darkness (same team, Swedish developers Starbreeze Studios), but they fit much better in this game. There’s a stealth button which lets you know when you are undetectable or not, and it’s pretty interesting. Best of all, this is a stark, cramped, and dark game (which may have been part of using the OG-Xbox’s limited processing power) but it feels just right. When you do jump out of hiding and execute somebody silently (or take them out with an assault rifle), it’s really rewarding.

The Xbox 360 version of this game is still available on Gamefly for $10, and apparently you can trade it in for $9 credit when you’re done!

28
Dec
09

Dances with Smurfs

By Russ Crandall 1 Comment
Categories: Movies
Tags: ,


Just got home from watching Avatar, which I saw in RealD 3D (I’m not sure what the difference in 3D technologies is at the moment). Got some free Ray-Bans out of the deal.

I don’t think it’s worth it to do a full review, considering that there has been so much written about it already, but I will say that it met my expectations. If you’ve seen a trailer, then you know what it’s about. No surprises there. I was mostly going for the visuals, and this was my first 3D cinema experience aside from Captain Equal Opportunity as a kid. Truth be told, 30 minutes into the film I stopped noticing the 3D stuff unless it really stood out.

It looks nice. Definitely worth the trip to see it.

25
Dec
09

GameSpot’s “Getting Started with Gaming”

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Games


Did you get a new console for Christmas? Unsure of where to start? GameSpot has a new article called Getting Started with Gaming that has tons of advice for first-time buyers of the three major consoles.

Previously, we’ve done rundowns of what to buy after getting a new console, but GameSpot did such a good job that I’m feeling…jobless.

Merry Christmas!

23
Dec
09

My Faves: Top 15 Songs of 2009

By Russ Crandall 2 Comments
Categories: Music and My Faves
Tags: ,

Continue reading ‘My Faves: Top 15 Songs of 2009′

19
Dec
09

Biting the Big Apple

By Russ Crandall 2 Comments
Categories: Editorials
Tags:


Wife, child and I are headed up to NYC for a few days of shopping, eating, and Rockefeller christmas tree viewing. Don’t worry, we’re not buying you anything.

18
Dec
09

Film Review: Triangle

By Russ Crandall 1 Comment
Categories: Movies and Reviews
Tags: ,


Watched this film after a recommendation from someone at my work. I was expecting a horror film, and I was pleasantly surprised with this compelling, cerebral thriller. Don’t get me wrong – this film is horribly acted, and it suffers from some really unintuitive leaps in storyline – but it’s the best low-budget thriller/suspense film that I’ve ever seen.

A group of cliche horror characters board a sailboat for a fun and relaxing jaunt off the coast of Florida, and shit gets crazy, and I’m not going to give anything away. It hasn’t been released in the US yet, and I’m not going to tell you where to find it, but when it is available for rental or purchase, check it out. Let me know if I’m dumb for liking it.

16
Dec
09

Final Fantasy VIII Coming To PSN

By Russ Crandall 1 Comment
Categories: Games and News
Tags: , ,


DREAMY.

Believe it or not dear friends, Final Fantasy VIII was the first FF game I ever played. I didn’t play video games from 1995 to 2001, and when I finally did pick up a PSOne, I bought this game because it had the best graphics on the back cover. Remember when we made purchases based on shit like that? All in all, I liked the game pretty well, and I think I’ll get it when it comes out on the PSN “soon“, as long as it’s $10 or less.

If you’d like to join the Squall Leonhart Fan Club, look no further than here.

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