The Press conference started off with a video going over the history of Xbox and how they were going to change everything again. Several heads of studios and development came out on stage to show off the various aspects of the new console. Don Mattrick the president of interact entertainment was the first person to come out on stage to reveal the name and the console itself. He introduced Yusuf Mehdi the corporate vice president who showed off many of the multitasking capabilities of the Xbox. You can quickly switch between games, t.v., movies, and music with voice control through the Kinect or hand gestures. There is a new tab called trending to show what your friends are interested in and what the Xbox community at large is interested in at the moment. Part of the multitasking component is a thing called snap mode where you can have a movie and a browser open or Skype and live t.v. and you can interact with either screen from Kinect or a smart glass enabled device. Smart glass being the app that you can currently get for any smart phone and use it as a second screen with Xbox. With the t.v. integration they have put in an Xbox guide to find what you want to watch faster. You can use Kinect to change channels or to show you whats on a certain channel.  Mark Whitten the vice president of Xbox live  was up next to show off some more detailed features of the console. He revealed that the console would have 8gb of ram, a Blu-ray player and a 64 bit operating system. He described how there would essentially be three operating systems to run various parts of the console. There would be an Xbox  infrastructure, Windows os, and a multitasking architecture to move back and forth between the two. Next he showed off the new Kinect with enhanced cameras and better voice detection. The controller was also shown and it has improved triggers and a more ergonomic design so it fits better in anyone’s hand. He also mentioned how all saves and profiles would be stored in the cloud and Xbox live would have 300,000 servers around the world to handle the new storage demands. Video game capture was also mentioned at this time and how that could be edited and stored on the cloud as well.

Next they brought up Andrew Wilson from EA to show off some of their sports franchises. He talked about UFC, FIFA, Madden, and NBA and the new Ignite engine running all of these games. It will be more intelligent and fluid in the movements and just improve the games all around. He also mentioned that Xbox would get exclusive content for FIFA 14.

Up to the stage next was Phil Spencer the Head of Microsoft studios and showed off two games coming to the Xbox One. First he showed a trailer for Forza 5 the next iteration of the racing game. It looked like a more detailed racing game with better graphics. Secondly he showed a trailer for Quantum Break. It didn’t show much other than a little girl with seemingly supernatural powers, from the original developer of Max Payne. Phil Spencer also announced that Microsoft would be putting out 15 exclusive games in the first year of Xbox One.

Nancy Tellum the president of entertainment and digital media was the next person on the stage. She talked about the video production that Microsoft was starting to do and she introduced Bonnie Ross from 343 studios to announce a Halo t.v. series  produced by Steven Spielberg. Nancy Tellum then introduced a new partnership with the NFL to provide integrated fantasy sports leagues and better messaging and Skype calls while watching games. Don Mattrick then said that the Xbox would be out later this year and that we would see more at E3.

Lastly Eric Hershberg CEO of publishing at Activision came out to talk about Call of Duty: Ghosts, and how they have built a new engine and got a big name writer in Stephen Gaghan. The facial animations are more detailed and apparently there are dynamic multiplayer maps. Of course all DLC for Call of Duty: Ghosts will be exclusively out first on Xbox.

For me there weren’t really any big surprises at this press conference. They seem to be going the route of all-in-one media box. I hope they don’t neglect the gamers that built them up in the first place, but we will see in the coming months and over the next year where they decide to go with their new console.

The Great Gatsby

This past Sunday my roommate and I went to see The Great Gatsby. We had been talking about this movie ever since it was announced. I read the book and saw an earlier movie version in my high school literature class. It is one of my favorite books. I really love period pieces, like Mad Men on t.v. and several H.G. Wells books. The thought of revisiting the roaring twenties really excites me. That’s why I was so excited to hear that they were making a new movie. When I heard that Leonardo DiCaprio was attached to play Gatsby and Tobey Maguire was going to play Nick Carraway I thought that these were good choices for their respective characters. Then I heard that it was going to be shot in 3-D and I became hesitant, not that that affects the quality of the movie, but sometimes 3-D can be a detriment to the look it. I’ve had a few days to gather my thoughts on the movie and now I will review it right here for the site. Just know that this is a discussion of specific scenes from the movie.

Going into the movie I was very worried, after seeing the trailer introducing the soundtrack to the movie, and seeing the low rotten tomatoes score going into opening weekend, but I was still optimistic. The movie opened up with Nick Carraway in a Sanitarium, or Mental Hospital, for excessive alcoholism which sets up the plot device of Nick narrating and writing on the screen throughout the movie. This is an unexpected scene seeing as how this isn’t even remotely mentioned in the  book. The story now narrated by Nick opens on video and pictures of New York City in the early 20′s. In my head I hear a fast paced song that you would dance the Charleston too but in the movie inexplicably a thumping song by Jay-Z plays off-beat to the clips. This is the first time where I question the soundtrack.

The first half of the movie is a whirl wind of montages and the doctor, from the Sanitarium, interrupting the story to ask plot driving questions that only hinder the story and don’t really lead to anywhere but the direction the story was logically heading in anyway. Sadly they not only interrupt the voice-over of Tobey Maguire to do this but they also cut back to the Sanitarium, as if we have already forgotten that terrible plot device. Throughout this portion of the movie there are various scenes where the information and scene itself is covered up with voice-over. It feels so unnecessary to not let the captured audio from the actors, seemingly mostly Leonardo DiCaprio, provide the information being covered in the voice-over. There were several times when I thought that the audio  was sped up and mixed low just to get a nick voice-over in there. The music during the several party scenes, for being pop style songs, seemed to fit the tempo well. However, in the middle of all of these party scenes, was a another anachronistic Jay-Z fueled spectacle where women are dancing on an old style car like they are in a rap video.

Halfway through the movie it changes tone from an opulent fast paced romp to a dark drama in a snap of the fingers. During one of those weird infamous flash forwards to the Sanitarium they even spoil the end of the movie. At a neck breaking pace  the movie slows down into what the book is really about. I believe this is where we lose all of the people thinking they are going to a summer block buster. This part of the movie shows Gatsby’s dissent from eccentric millionaire into a jealous child. Even though Gatsby woo’s Daisy, he can’t truly be happy until she disavows her marriage because he dedicated his life to her. Gatsby slowly shows his true colors by small odd requests of Daisy until he finally blows up and nearly fights Tom, Daisy’s husband. This leads to everything falling apart and eventually leads to the ending where Gatsby is waiting for a call from Daisy.

I actually enjoyed most of this movie. I have problems with how sped up some of the scenes feel, and how the music by Jay-Z doesn’t fit into the movie. Also I think Baz Luhrmann needed a good editor because at one point there is a scene that doesn’t make any sense, at one point Gatsby and Daisy are dancing, Nick walks up and then inexplicably walks away without  interacting with the two. Unfortunately, some important elements of the story like Jordan Baker and Nick having a relationship, and Gatsby’s father showing up, were left out of the movie. There were really good moments in this movie and Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire lived up to filling their roles like I had hoped. There was great potential but I think Baz Luhrmann was too focused on the parties and not enough on the rest of the book and how it shows the rise and fall of America right before the Great Depression. That was the point and that’s what Gatsby signified when he threw epic parties until he attracted the one thing that he wanted, but couldn’t get passed it when she couldn’t fulfill his  ideals of the future, and so he fell. Opulence and greed lead to a quick downfall, and that’s how I feel about the movie.

Check out the trailer here and decide how you feel about the movie

On Tuesday night Peyton rounded up his teammates and took them on a little field trip to the Colorado Rockies vs. New York Yankees game. It’s great to see Peyton bringing all of his teammates together for some team bonding. These are the types of things that make Manning a great leader on and off the field.  But Manning also likes to have a little fun on the side as well. One of the teammates at the game was right tackle Orlando Franklin. This happened to be Franklin’s first professional baseball game so he was the perfect target for one of Manning’s pranks. This time Manning enlisted the help of his wide receiver Eric Decker. While Franklin was doing an interview with a Rockies broadcaster Decker gave him a plateful of shaving cream right to the face. This is something many baseball players do to a player after a walk off win. Now Franklin doesn’t look like the type of guy I would want to prank, but I’m sure Decker was just glad to be on Manning’s side this time. Earlier this offseason Manning brought together Decker, Demaryius Thomas, and Wes Welker to work out with him at Duke University. At the end of the weekend Manning made Decker think he had to pay for his voluntary workout by sending him an invoice that included a facility fee, laundry service fee, and a fee from the athletic training staff. The total bill read $3,217.50. I wonder who Manning is going to prank next.

Check out the bill to Decker and the note to the others:

“Iron Man 3” had a $175.3 million dollar opening weekend in the US. This is the second highest debut only behind last years “The Avengers” which gained $207.4. I guess everyone’s favorite superhero is Iron Man. Worldwide “Iron Man 3” has hauled in $680.1 million. So why did “Iron Man 3” do so well? The answer is simple: It’s the best Iron Man movie yet.

Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” pits Robert Downey Jr. as genius billionaire playboy-philanthropist Tony Stark (Iron Man) against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. The world is under attack by the villain known as the Mandarin, who it seems has teamed up with people from Stark’s past. In the comic books the Mandarin is one of Iron Man’s biggest villains. As Stark finds his home and personal world destroyed by his past he embarks on a quest to find those responsible.

“Iron Man 2,” clearly had more of an emphasis on the technology than the human aspects, and in “Iron Man 3,” things are tipped the other way — it’s much more Tony Stark’s movie than it is Iron Man’s. For a large portion of the movie, he doesn’t even have his suit. He must rely on his ingenuity and his instincts to protect those closest to him. You also see Stark in more hand to hand combat rather than using his suit as a shield. As I first watched the movie I found myself wanting more of Iron Man and his explosive gadgets, but as the movie went on I realized that I didn’t need all those gadgets to enjoy the movie. This is the theme that resonates throughout the movie. As he fights his way back Stark must discover the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

“Iron Man 3” also has a lot of surprises that you don’t see coming. I really didn’t know what to expect going into the movie. The trailers never gave away much of the plot like many other trailers do. This is one movie where you less you know the better. Just go into the movie knowing that you want to see an Iron Man movie and you will leave pleasantly surprised and entertained.

Gwyneth Paltrow actually gets to do stuff in this movie as well. The appearance of Gwyneth Paltrow in the “Iron Man” movies has always been a little puzzling, although in “Iron Man 3″ she actually gets to, you know, do stuff. Her Pepper Potts is a complex character with her own set of motivations and insecurities and (brief spoiler alert!) she even gets to put on the suit, which is a callback to a larger storyline in the comic books, where Tony builds her a suit of her own and she becomes a hero in her own right.

“Iron Man 3” has fewer action scenes in it, but all that means is that the action sequences are that much better. There’s a sequence that involves Air Force One that is literally jaw-dropping and that the fiery climax, featuring a whole squadron of robotic suits, is wonderfully intricate and multi-tiered.

“Iron Man 3” is the first blockbuster of the summer and it may very well be the best. It is certainly the best “Iron Man” movie and it is a great conclusion to the trilogy. They can always make more “Iron Man” movies but I don’t think they will. They wrapped up the loose ends and gave Stark a life outside of his suit. The next time he suits up it will be to team up once more with The Avengers. Which reminds me, don’t forget to stay till the end of the credits. You don’t get a preview of the next Marvel movie, but you do get to find out why Robert Downey Jr. was narrating the story of the movie. Like I said, they wrapped up all the loose ends.

Check out the trailer for “Iron Man 3″:

http://youtu.be/aV8H7kszXqo

As I sat watching the sixth game between the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors I couldn’t help but get this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wanted the Nuggets to win so badly. They were clearly the better team, but they hadn’t played like it all series, even in the games they won.  As I watched them fall behind by 18 points in the fourth quarter I started to get the feeling that this organization will never win an NBA championship. I mean the Nuggets won 57 games this year. They had a 15 game winning streak. They won 23 straight games at home. They were the number 3 seed in the Western Conference. I mean they can’t really do any better than that. Even when we had out superstar Melo the team didn’t have the kind of season they had this year. But they still lost in the first round. As a fan how can you have any hope in the future of this organization?

So what is the problem with this team? There has been a lot of talk about what to do with George Karl. I for one am in favor of going in a different direction. I hate the way Karl manages his rotation. He plays Andre Miller for far too many minutes and many of those minutes come when Ty Lawson is on the floor. No other team in the NBA plays with two true point guards on the floor at the same time, especially two point guards that are so different from one another. Andre Miller plays bad defense, he is always out of position, he take too many shots, and he slows the game down on a team whose only offensive game plan is to play fast. With the emergence of Evan Fournier there is no reason that the Nuggets need Miller next year.  If Andre Miller does return next year, it will be clear that this organization has no desire to make it past the first round. The second thing I don’t like about Karl is he has no idea how to call a timeout. Time and time again I watched the Nuggets blow big leads without Karl calling a time out. I understand Karl wanting to let the guys play, but basketball is a game of energy. When a team is playing at home all it takes is one big 3 point shot to gain full control of that energy. As a coach you have to be able to know when to call a time out when you feel that control of energy shifting to the opponent. The third thing I dislike about Karl is the way he addresses the media. I am tired of his excuses and his points for home and road losses and hearing about his philosophies. After losing game 5 Marc Jackson said the Nuggets played dirty. As a Nuggets fan I was so angry about that statement, how dare someone say my team plays dirty, especially when you could tell he had no facts and was just saying it so he could get a few calls the next game.  However Jackson made this statement for his team. He used it to maybe get a few calls, but more importantly show his players he has their back and will doanything for the. Now does Karl do this? Absolutely not. He can’t even use these words to fire up his team for game 6. Which brings be to the last thing I dislike about our coach. I want someone in that locker room who can fire this team up. Its game 6 and you are down 3-2 in the series. You go into halftime with a small lead on the road. You have your opponent right where you want them, but you have to come out of halftime even more fired up then you were to start the game. But the Nuggets come out flat and end up going down by 18 points. It’s an embarrassment. My only problem with firing Coach Karl is I honestly don’t know who the Nuggets could hire to replace him. I say I want him gone, but I don’t know who you replace him with. All I know is that the Nuggets need a change.

So I have made it clear that both Karl and Miller should be gone next year, but who else? Everyone always said that the Nuggets have one of the deepest benches and they say that it’s a good thing. I think the Nuggets depth has been one of the things holding them back. Yes it has helped with injuries, but it has also stopped the growth of some of their younger players. I really thought Jordan Hamilton would be able to take a step forward this year and become our next JR Smith. But the Nuggets just don’t have enough room to get him playing time. How is he going to get better unless he actually plays in meaningful games and gains that confidence? Come playoff time the benches usually get shorter as well so how does having a deep bench help there, it just takes key players out of the game for longer stretches of time. The Nuggets were also near the bottom of the league in 3 point shooting this year. Corey Brewer I believe needs to go. Sometimes Brewer can take over a game with his defense and knocking down threes and getting fast break points, but other games he completely disappeared. Like all 6 games against Golden State. He is the definition of inconsistent. Most of his points come on the fast break. Every time an opponent shoots a 3 he takes off down the court hoping they miss and he can cash in on an easy bucket. The problem is that it takes our small forward out of position to get the rebound. I would much rather get the rebound and limit second chance points than risk trying to get an easy bucket. But that is really all Brewer can do which is why he must go. The Nuggets need to add a three point shooter. The popular name out there is Korver from Atlanta who is a free agent. Also, I think that while Kosta Koufos is a solid center, I think he is completely worthless at the same time. He has little to no post game, he can’t shoot, he can’t block shots and he is not a great rebounder. McGee signed the big contract and he needs to be our starting center. Now the only thing he can do that Koufos can’t is block shots so it is not that much of an upgrade, but at least it’s something. The Nuggets also need a power forward that can play tough defense and also score consistently. I love Faried, but he is undersized and can be inconsistent. He improved his shooting greatly this year and I know he will continue to get better. However I think he would best be used as an energy guy off the bench. I would love for the Nuggets to make a trade for Kevin Love. The two players who I always wished were in Nuggets uniforms most were Love and Stephen Curry. I don’t think there is anyway the Nuggets can get Curry now, but they can make a trade for Love happen. The Nuggets need a star on their team. They need someone who can create their own shot and actually knock it down. Whether we have that player already or not, someone needs to find him.

I will never give up on the Denver Nuggets. They have been my team for far too long. I have just grown tired of these first round exits. Each season it seems the Nuggets are taking a step forward and having better and better regular seasons. But each year they are knocked out of the first round. How is a fan supposed to continue to have hope for the future? The Nuggets are so close, but yet so far away from winning an NBA championship. The only way to get there is to see what has consistently kept us from getting past the first round and make a change. So I ask you Josh Kroenke and Ujiri Masai, what is the constant?

Last night Sony fired the opening salvo in what will be the next generation of consoles (sorry Nintendo Wii U, baby steps). At a press event in New York, Sony revieled the 4th iteration of its PlayStation console. During the event they showed off the console’s features, announced new games, showed more information for already announced games, and they revealed the Dualshock 4 controller and Playstation 4 eye.

The new Playstation has a more PC like infrastructure in the x86 processor from AMD, and this time around it will include 8 gigabytes of ram which will be used to save game states, so you can shut down the console and when you turn it on it will be at the same spot you left it. There are also secondary chips that allow for background downloading so no having to sit on the xmb and wait for something to download, also you can begin playing a game and it will continue to download as you play. There is far more social integration with this system in that, there is a facebook like game profile with full name and a news feed of recent activity. Sony has teamed with Facebook to integrate more social networking, and also Ustream to stream live gameplay to friends and followers alike. A unique feature that I find interesting is the ability to allow a friend to take over gameplay while they are watching your stream. Also stated was the goal for every game to be playable through streaming on the PS Vita handheld device. Many people have compared this to the Nintendo Wii U controller even though remote play was on the PS3 from the very start; however gameplay was very limited to only a select few titles.
Several games were shown off, including some Playstation exclusives, and also some third party projects. The first party games announced where Killzone Shadowfall by Guerilla Games, Infamous Second Son by Sucker Punch, and Driver Club by Evolution Studios. There were many new IPs showed off from third party developers for the PS4: they were The Witness by Braid developer Jonathan Blow, Deep Down which is a working title by Capcom, and an as yet unnamed project by Square Enix. There were also a few already announced games that were confirmed for PS4. They include Destiny by Bungie, Watchdogs from Ubisoft, and coming to consoles first or exclusively on PS3 and 4 Diablo III.

The Dualshock 4 features were shown at the press event along with the new Playstation Eye. The new Dualshshock controller connects with Bluetooth just like the current Dualshock. It also includes a headphone jack for a bundled in headset which will hopefully curb the people saying no one uses headsets on PSN. Also included is a touchpad like on the rear of the PS Vita; the touchpad also a clickable button. The start and select buttons have been removed and replaced by one option button which provides all available choices for the game. Another new button was added in the share button. It will most likely bring up all of the social aspects of the console like sharing gameplay video, or activating the livestream function. I assume Facebook updates will also be accessible from this menu. In the Dualshock, Sony has decided to incorporate move functionality. There is a light bar on the front of the controller which will be tracked by the new Playstation 4 Eye camera which has been compared to the Kinect which I suppose is apt because it has stereo cameras which can detect depth in a room, and it has four microphones built in to detect where sound is coming from. I have also read that the eye camera will allow players to sign in via facial recognition.
Unfortunately they didn’t announce a specific release date there than Holiday 2013. They also didn’t show any pictures of the console itself which I assume means they will show it around E3. For all other information regarding the system I guess we will have to wait and see what Sony decides to share with us but I certainly can’t wait. Below are gameplay and trailer videos from the Playstation Meeting 2013.

Hitman: Absolution

Persona 4

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

http://www.nba.com/teamsites/nuggets/video/gangnam-style-denver-nuggets-edition