I’ve barely scratched the surface of Okami for the Wii, but I can tell that I’ll like it. It’s very unique and artistic, and a nice breath of fresh air over the rest of the Wii’s anemic library.

It does, however, suffer from the one thing that I hate more than anything else in the entire world of Video Game-dom: a wise-cracking, smart alecky sidekick. Who really enjoys these types of characters? Who says, “The writing in the game is so hilarious! There is this little grasshopper-guy that keeps calling me ‘furball!’ Get it? Because I’m a wolf! LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!” Nobody, that’s who.

It is not comic relief, it’s annoying. The game should have kept with its more serious tone, and had something less annoying guiding me though, like another god, or a narrator, or just some text at the bottom the screen. It’s things like this that keep games from reaching their true potential.

I am the best judge of style/comedy/erotic art that I know. So it should carry a lot of weight when I say that I was very much excited to hit the theater in order to see Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder over the weekend. I’ve been down on most flicks lately, maybe due to my recent run of Jennifer Lopez and Paul Walker titles (Money Train and Fast and the Furious, btw). It was a welcome relief to go in to this pic expecting and then receiving a quality original comedy with hilarious acting, especially by Robert Downey Junior.

Ben stiller plays it a little rougher than his usual “nice guy who submits to other people” character like in Along Came Polly, Something About Mary or the “Meet The…” movies. He’s a send up of all the typical, bad action actors that you can think of. Jack Black basically plays himself if he were perpetually freebasing crack. And I didn’t think he could kick it up any more notches, but he finds a way. And RDJ? Well, let’s just say that after Iron Man and this movie, he’s more than made up for his past roles in A Scanner Darkly and Mussolini: The Untold Story and is fast becoming one of my fav actors.

Seriously, this movie almost made me shit my pants. It will make you laugh until you throw up all over your crotch. Maybe even you neighbors too… if your lucky *wink wink*.

Update: I just came back from LameStop, but I didn’t get either of these games. They were out of Mario Kart, and they didn’t have a used copy of Boom Blox. I did, however, pick up Okami, and the Nyko wireless numbchuck. About to fire them both up right now.

I just had an idea! Due to the fact that I don’t have school, work, or a functioning Xbox for at least the next three days, I’m going to go buy Mario Kart Wii, and maybe even Boom Blox, if I’m feeling saucy.

See you in a few hours!

Name: Dratin
Occupation: Fighter
Realm: Sulkin

Okay, I’ll just be out with it: Dratin has a small penis. I know, I didn’t want to go there, but it’s important to my tale. You see, Dratin is a compensator. I mean, look at all those massive, phallic horns sticking out of his armor! And why do you think he has such long hair? It’s to fool people into thinking he has a long…something else. And did you get a look at his sword? The poor idiot went into the armory and bought the biggest sword he could find - paying no attention to the fact that he accidentally bought the cardboard display model instead!!

Name: Chim
Occupation: Fighter
Realm: Sulkin

Chim has everything that Dratin wants - she has longer hair than him, and a REAL sword. But alas, this love wasn’t meant to be.

I heard recently that the morning after their first night together (during which much begging, pleading and excuse-giving took place), Dratin stole Chim’s (real) sword while she was still dozing, chopped off her hair, stole the gold she had hidden in her sock drawer, and disappeared.

It’s a sad story, but someone had to tell it. All’s fair in love and war, right?

Before you read this, read this.

I agree with pretty much everything Tyler said in that post. The BFBC controls are to COD4 controls as a sloppy joe is to a precisely cut slice of sashimi, the Battlefield hit detection should be called, “hit-or-miss detection,” and visually, there is no comparison between the two games.

BUT! The thing that makes BFBC stand out to me is the depth of the online multiplayer. All the various vehicle types that make killing possible from the land, sea, and air, is something that COD4 is sorely lacking. That’s the main reason that, unless a couple friends want to team up, I’m pretty much over COD4. Although not nearly the game as part four is, COD3 had a much longer shelf-life for me, simply because things like patrolling the outskirts of Eder Dam in a .50 cal-ed up Jeep with a friend never got old.

Also, even though there isn’t quite the weapon or perk selection that’s found in COD4, there is enough customization to keep me happy and interested, and the size of the maps actually allow for a little strategery, instead of just runnin’ and gunnin.

My point is, side-by-side, the single player modes don’t even compare, COD4 is on a level that no other game has even come close to yet. But the multiplayer modes of both games offer both equally different, and awesome, experiences.

P.S. Sorry about using the same picture, Tyler, I just really like it.

To Two Too Human is coming out this week. Anyone plan on playing it? I totally would, eX-box came down with a severe case of the RROD.

So, I just played COD4 for about two hours. Then I immediately went in and played BFBC for about an hour and a half. And I think I’m qualified enough now to say that I don’t like BFBC nearly as much as COD4. And when I say nearly, I mean, like, 1/10th as much.

Which confuses me because I was pretty amped on Bad Company for the all the eye-sexing destrucability. Having breakable environments is one of the things, along with recordable matches and completely customizable controls, that will take a game from good to excellent for me. Or so I thought. COD has none of those things, but it does a couple things with superbly well.

I don’t know if it’s all of the time I’ve spent with COD or what, but it flows so much better. I feel this comes from two things. First - tight, responsive controls. I can’t even think of another game that has caused such ingrained muscle memory. I can literally tell you, with words, the button combos and d-pad directions one would need to press in order to do anything they want. Granted, the same reaction would have come from playing more of BFBC, and this leads me to my second point.

Hit detection. A la Gears of War, who the fuck likes to empty CLIPS at guys and see them smoke you at arms length? Not me, monsignor. There is relatively no splash damage, and bullets seem to slide around enemies like they were made out of butter. Also, the player moves at a chunky and unresponsive clip, I feel like I might as well paint a bulls eye on my back.

Tragedy, dear readers. Because the explosions look so damn good and there really is no feeling like removing a house being used for cover with a 120mm tank round.

As Will Rogers once said, “I don’t know about art, but I know what I like.” Well, I’ll tell you what I don’t like:

-Waiting in line

-Art Snobs

-Very, very loud “House Beats”

What I do like is any excuse for fans of game culture to get together and chit chat.

Well, I got a little of both. Plus what you see below.

This picture above, taken from outside the window of the Xzibit exhibit, pretty much sums up my feelings of the show. It was something that initially interests you, but eventually lets you down by overdoing a good thing.

Pardon my erstwhile review but, the crew and I waited in line for near to 3 hours to get inside. Once at the front of the line, we were welcomed by the surliest fucking security guards you are likely to find this side of a 1972 Rolling Stones concert. I did get to holler at 1UP’s Gregg Ford for a minute while outside. I got a chance to ask him his thoughts on the show, if the swag was any good and if he could sneak me in. The answers were: good, yes and If I was Russ he would have.

This is where the Colt45 came from

Once inside things smoothed down a bit, the music was too loud (I’m old now) and everyone seemed so hip and up on the art scene, it didn’t seem to jive. I like to think that gamers are the opposite kind of people than those who wait in line all night to get in to exclusive clubs with terrible AC, loud/bad music and posturing airheads with no value in life aside from their $400 jeans. Yet, for a slim number of those in attendance last night, I was wrong. I did see Jane Pinckard (practically the pioneer of the 1UP Show weekly video podcast)  and Adam Sessler (the Bob Saget of video Gamedom) though, so thascool.

Over all, the art was pretty cool, though too rich for my blood. Tyler wasn’t walking out of there with any pieces that night except for the free swag of a poster with the new Mega Man 9 artwork splayed across it. SCORE! I had an alright time, but if you go you should wait a week. Check it out without all of the frenzy.

Umm, so, did any of you guys know that there is a Spaceballs animated series airing right now? Neither did I. That’s because, as of press time, it only airs on a Canadian pay-TV channel, and has not yet been shown in the states. According to an IMDb commenter, though, G4tv currently holds the rights to it, and if the above picture is to be believed, will be here this fall.

But do we really want it to be? I mean, the movie was hilarious when it first came out, 21 years ago, but how well would it relate to our modern, highly evolved, advanced sense of comedy? I just don’t know.

I stumbled upon this nugget when I was checking out RE4’s voice actors on IMDb. It turns out that the same actor that played everyone’s favorite Spanish, homosexual ex-cop/Las Plagas scientist, Luis Sera, named Rino Romano, also voices Spaceball’s Lonestar. I wish I was watching it right now.

Now that Russ is too busy for us, I (Mark/TheJesusZombie) will be temporarily taking over the 360voice Weekly Recap Duties. I’m proud of all of us for last week. Here we go!

P.S. I’m going to leave all three controllers up there in hopes of reminding some people that the name of the site is threevue.com, not twovue.com.

Mark:

This entry is a little different than the others. It is a recap of the last week of gaming. Check it: TheJesusZombie played 6 days last week… pretty solid I guess… I’m not feeling that picky lately. We added 190 points of gamerscore which ain’t too shabby. Getting 12 achievements can do that to you. I was there. I saw it!

For the record, we played 2 new games over the last week. They were Braid, and Geometry Wars Evolved². They were all fun… in their own little ways. Oh, and from what I remember, TheJesusZombie’s favorite game last week was Geometry Wars Evolved². He played it on 5 of the days.

So that’s it. Thanks for reading. PM us for a game or something. We get lonely.

Russ:

This entry is a little different than the others. It is a recap of the last week of gaming. Check it: For the record, it is better to have onionsaregross play one day than to have never played last week at all. We added 10 points of gamerscore. Points are good! That 1 achievement was worth it I guess!

I could go on and on with the stats, but that is enough.

Tyler:

It is hard to believe another week has passed. Here is the recap: So yeah… Last week tyler808 showed up 3 days total and logged some serious gaming. We added 165 points of gamerscore which ain’t too shabby. Getting 11 achievements can do that to you. I was there. I saw it!

If I had a DOLLAR for every new game I played during the week, I would have 2 bucks! w00t! I can now add Braid, and Geometry Wars Evolved² to my collection… unless they were rentals or demos or betas. I couldn’t tell. Also, I think we can all agree that tyler808’s favorite game last week was 1942: Joint Strike. He played it on 2 of the days.

So that’s it for now. It was a good week. On to the next one.