Skye

So, Sonic Boom. Watched the first episode of that. GENERAL THOOOOOUGHTS Spoiler Opening in media res with an action scene is a good move, reminiscent of the first scene in Sonic X and the best one it would have for about half a season. That said, it's not as good. It looks better, but Sonic X had a better setup (huge Robotnik base being infiltrated as opposed to Sonic and Robotnik having a little tussle in a canyon with one robot) and also had the better soundtrack. Sets up the show well enough, but it's underwhelming. The general plot is that Tails gets injured and so Sonic decides to hire a new sidekick. Let's ignore the fact that Tails is perfectly fine within a short period of time, and the fact that the two of them are the best of friends and that Sonic would never do something so drastic in such a cold fashion (he literally just says "you're fired" and walks out the door) and just look at the plot objectively. It's lame and it's been done before. The idea that Robotnik wants to take part is pretty funny, but loses the charm after a little while. And then it's just Tails and Robotnik having a race. At least Sonic X opened with a huge action sequence, an enormous anomaly in time and space, and a race that exceeds the speed of sound. Basically, in that first episode, things happened. In this, it does not feel like things happened. The writing is... haphazard. Sometimes it's alright, and does the job well - there's one joke about Robotnik being tsundere for Sonic that had me laughing pretty hard - but sometimes the thick smear of jokes clearly intended for children is spread. Thick. Some of the lines were bringing out the groans, particularly when Amy is doing her "trying too hard to impress Sonic" thing, and some didn't even make sense. The security camera joke took a while to register to me as an actual joke (there wasn't really a punchline, it was just an out-of-place fourth wall gag.) There was another joke about a parking ticket which... I don't... what? The animation is both good and bad. Good in that the visual quality is strong, the new designs are memorable (and arguably dumb, like MACHO KNUCKLES, but at least memorable and distinct in some regard) and it handles the 3D issues of shading and lighting without anything glaring or feeling out of place. It also brings some good moments when things are moving, such as the "surfboard" race where it pulls a lot of good camera shots. However, the storyboard artist needs to be fired. For any scene where things are quiet or slow, only the simplest of animations or facial expressions are used. They actually do sort of look like puppets in a few places. There's one scene on an ice lake (in the middle of a jungle...?) where every facial expression, every reaction, and every mood made by the voice acting is out of place - Sonic looks angry as he sadly says something, he looks cheerful as he says something suggesting he's frightened, and Tails looks pleased about something he should be annoyed about. It's so distracting. And while it may just be on my end (Youtube videos aren't always the genuine thing) I believe the lip syncing is a rush job and there were times when it seemed to be lagging behind. Oh, and it uses speed lines quite often, which is -10 points in animation bingo for your background artist being too lazy. And finally, there's some fire particle effects in here which are laughably bad. On the whole, looks promising, but pretty much isn't. Characterization is also hit and miss, but probably the best thing it does. Sonic and Tails are fine - it's hard to mess up "cocky teenager" and "geeky younger bro". Knuckles is simple but cool in a funny way, just how lax he is with his posture and his tone of voice. Much more fun to watch than the hyper-aggro-angsty Knuckles from Sonic X. Amy is, well, I honestly don't know. She actually does have some proper personality besides "fangirl" this time, with this snappy way of moving and this enthusiasm and energy to her, but it's also quite overbearing and annoying at times. I'm going to make a tentative thumbs up, on the basis that it's at least better than "I HOPE SONIC LOVES ME" all the time. And Robotnik is hammy and conniving and just fills up the screen whenever he appears. He's pretty fun to watch, especially when he's feeling particularly villainous and turning up the volume. The resolution is reached in about three lines of dialogue and one nice musical cue. Shallow. The moral is something about friendship or whatever. It's rushed, it's dumbed down, and you've heard it a million times before anyway. Voice acting quickfire! Sonic is alright. Does fine, but sounds unusually old and deep. There's one part that really sucks though - Sonic is drowning and he says "I can't swim" in the most pedestrian, average, not-fucking-drowning-to-death way possible. Flatter than Mr. Game & Watch. Probably more down to direction than the actor himself, though. Tails is spot on. May be irritating to some, but he's young and enthusiastic. Robotnik is on the ball as always. His voice always makes me grin. EVIL HAAAAAAAM. Knuckles and Amy are also okay. Knuckles in particular was pretty good, Amy is either great or awful depending on your tastes. Orbot is good. Cubot is not. There's a Grounder and Scratch thing going on there, though it's not that bad. They're not in here for long, anyway. One side character was voiced like Droopy, which was actually kind of funny, but then he appears too often, and it gets old fast. On the whole, it's... pretty mediocre. There's good elements, but there's some obvious parts where the team was lazy and phoned things in. The dialogue is cheesy and most of the jokes not involving Robotnik fall flat, the art style is good but not supported with strong enough animation, the voice acting is poor on the whole with only Robotnik as a standout performance, and the plot is your simple Saturday Morning Cartoon bollocks. The only real thing it brings to the table is superior characterization - Robotnik is hammy and entertaining, Knuckles is more likeable in his two lines of dialogue than he ever was in Sonic X, and Amy is annoying but actually has a personality now. That and some neat designs. But really, that's about it. Probably better than Sonic X on a technical level, but not by a wide margin (and even then, that's only counting the first season of Sonic X - its third season surpasses this.) TL,DR: It's not very good. Nice ideas, poor execution, sticky fingerprints of dumbing down for kids all over the place. EDIT: Episode 2 is about Robotnik crashing with Sonic at his house and being a bad roommate. What the fuck. I guess this one is crossed off the list. Maybe I'll go back to anime or something.

Toon Link amiibo will be mine, and none of you can stop me. (Is it just me or does the Sonic one look particularly... blotchy? Is that the word I'm looking for? I can't put my finger on it.)

Big Hero 6 is not out in the UK until late January. Good God, it's like they want me to pirate it...

Because when people record stuff for games, they don't get an actual M134 Ha, true enough. Just seemed like a funny coincidence. Makes me wonder if it's a public library soundclip. Though seriously, they should totally do that for sound design in the future, just go to the nearest army base with a boom mic and smile as they knock on the front door.

Weird thing to notice, but does that forklift have the same sound effect as the Heavy's Minigun...?

...Yes? Is there a problem with making merchandise from characters before their product is out? Was it wrong that I wanted a Mega Ampharos toy before X & Y was officially released, or that I listened to Let It Go before I saw Frozen? I'm unsure what your point is, besides some 4chan joke (which I don't get, so admittedly, I may be missing the point as well.)

Having class limits would probably hold the game back to some degree. Super MNC was not very fun when someone chose Assassin before me, and I had to go play fucking Artemis or whoever. Sure, this presents the problem of having three Widowmakers and two Reapers on your team, but to me, it's better than HUNTER(+)FN00BZ choosing Tracer and being utterly useless. A lesser of two evils (though ideally, they'll have measures to discourage this.) Though this does raise the question as to whether it will be matchmaking or server-based. I really hope for the latter (or both, ideally.) Maybe servers can have custom settings, so that people can set class limits if they like? Wishful thinking. Oh yeah, the 2015 beta is apparently due for January. Skeptical about that - I'm betting on late February or early March.

> Recap.

Duuble post because... this happened. I don't know what to say.

I said the same thing about Super Monday Night Combat once.

Have I ever mentioned that Hussie is my favorite writer? The "looking a little embarrassed, turned around again to keep driving" line had me in fucking stitches for whatever dumb reason.

Hm, those three on the side look interesting. Guessing the cowboy is all about sharpshooting and pistol fights, the Warframe mech is all about being agile and only brings a sword to battle, and the gas mask guy... Well, I have no ide.a I'm quite happy about the lack of talent trees and such, at least on release, so that they can have a more balanced base game before they add to it (like how TF2 had no gameplay customization for a while, and then brought out the unlockable weapons in the class updates.) I think if DOTA can have over a hundred characters with around a good 90% "they're balanced" degree of success, it's not too skeptical to say the same can be done for a class shooter. They'll be hiccups in beta and on launch, as there always is - remember when Spy couldn't pick up metal, or when Soldier and Demoman had twice the ammo pool - but it isn't an impossible feat. In fact, Super Monday Night Combat showed that it's possible (although they executed the idea poorly and the game died as a result.) As for the roles, that's understandable, although the role system is similar to TF2's in that it's more of a suggestion than anything, and that there is variety within that role to justify picking one class over the other, as they do have enough differences to make them distinct (in the same way that Soldier and Scout share the same role but are radically different, Widowmaker and Torbjorn are both Defense but almost nothing alike.) I can see it being a problem as the number of heroes increases, though, so fair point. Let's hope they've still got a lot of good ideas in the tank, rather than just scraps.

No. Yes. From the previews of the original twelve, I'm looking forward to Widowmaker the most. Sniper with mobility options, traps, and wallhacks? Yes, please. I'm also pretty excited for mind games with Tracer, sneaky ganks with Reaper, and Propane Nightmares frags with Pharah.

Summary for the classes if anyone is interested: Tracer: Fine young British lass with goggles. Offense. Wields two pulse pistols. Can blink short distances, can "rewind" herself to a few seconds ago (reverting any health and ammo changes as well) and has a powerful pulse bomb which can stick to surfaces or enemies. TF2 comparison: Scout if he was in Timesplitters. Reaper: Dark and edgy guy in black robe and skull mask. Offense. Wields two shotguns. Can become intangible for a short time (takes no damage, but cannot attack or use abilities), can teleport distances (longer range than Tracer's Blink, but takes more time to use) and can go John Woo with Death Blossom (goes invincible and fucks up everything in a nearby radius.) TF2 comparison: Spy if he used a shotgun. Or Corvo from Dishonored. Widowmaker: Purple-skinned ponytail lady with spy visor helmet thing. Defense. Wields a submachine gun which transforms into a sniper rifle when scoped. Can move around with a grappling hook, can drop a mine that deals poison to enemies who trigger, and can activate Wallhack Vision to see enemies through walls (which is also shown for her teammates.) TF2 comparison: Sniper, but not boring. Winston: A damn dirty ape in space gear and glasses. Tank. Wields a tesla cannon (effectively an electric flamethrower.) Can use his Jump Pack to leap huge distances and deal damage when he lands, can make a bubble shield to stop incoming ranged attacks, and can go berserk (boosts health and melee damage, and reduces Jump Pack cooldown, but restricts him to melee for a short time.) TF2 comparison: Pyro with a side order of Steak-only Heavy. Pharah: Egyptian lady in big blue bird armor. Offense. Wields a rocket launcher. Can use Jump Jet to leap high in the air and to hover for a brief time, can shoot a Concussive Blast that knocks enemies back, and can unleash a cluster barrage of rockets on a target location. TF2 comparison: Soldier with a Jetpack. Reinhardt: Very tall modern day knight with a hammer bigger than you. Tank. Wields a rocket hammer. Can create a shield to absorb damage in front of him (but cannot attack while doing so), can charge forward and grab enemies in his way (dealing huge damage if he collides with something and pins them), can shoot a fireball from range, and can knock down and damage nearby enemies with a earthshattering hammerfall. TF2 comparison: Demoknight (he even has the Ali Baba's Wee Booties, go on, check!) Symmetra: Indian lady with Portal gear and a sweet blue dress. Support. Wields a photon gun (fires a short range beam, or fires a large but slow projectile.) Can make multiple small turrets, can buff allies with a damage-reducing shield, and can create a teleporter (which can be used instantly.) TF2 comparison: Gunslinger Engineer, but less bullshit. Torbjorn: Swedish man who is basically a modern-day Warcraft dwarf. Defense. Wields a rivet gun (fire small rivets at long range, or fire molten buckshot at short range) and a hammer. Can build a single powerful turret, can drop damage-reducing armor packs for allies or himself, and can activate his Molten Core to significantly increase his firing speed and his turret building/repairing speed. TF2 comparison: Engineer with a berserk button. Bastion: Blocky white-green robot with a pet bird. Defense. Wields a submachine gun. Can transform into a stationary turret with a shield, can self-repair to restore his health (but cannot move or fire while doing so) and can create a Remote Mine (think a mine on an RC car) to plant somewhere and deal large damage when tripped. TF2 comparison: The Heavy with just a dash of Demoman. Hanzo: Asian archer ninja crimelord with a killer goatee and dragon tattoos. May turn you gay. Offense. Wields a bow. Can launch an arrow that creates sonic waves to show nearby enemies through walls, can climb up walls, can shoot MULTI-ARROW COMBOs that ricochet off walls, and can shoot a huge ghost dragon spiral... thing. TF2 comparison: Huntsman Sniper, but for MEN. Mercy: Blonde girl in metal angelic armor and wearing a halo. Support. Wields a Caduceus Staff (see: Medigun) and a side pistol. Can fire a beam at allies to heal them or buff their damage while it is active, can fly swiftly towards a target ally to assist them, can slow her descent, and can resurrect dead allies around her. TF2 comparison: Medic, but with wings. Zenyatta: Floating robot monk dude with orbs around his neck. Support. Wields floaty orbs (can fire one at a time swiftly or charge them up for a large barrage.) Can put an orb on an ally to heal them, put an orb on an enemy to amplify the damage they take, and can become Mecha-Buddha with Transcendance (invincible and heals all allies around him, but cannot attack or use abilities.) TF2 comparison: Uh, throwing a Sandvich, throwing Jarate, and a Concheror. Or something. I get the feeling that we should make an Overwatch thread. EDIT: Oh yeah, I believe Tracer is voiced by the same VA who did the medic girl from Final Fantasy 13. Might explain the initial gag reflex I had, but ultimately subdued because 1) British, and 2) cute as f00k.

Winston is otherkin, aaaaaaand, uh, Reaper used to be a woman. There, we ticked all the boxes. gg

Actually, looking at Overwatch now, I just noticed something: The characters range from the United Kingdom, France, Egypt, Germany, India, Sweden, Japan, Switzerland, Nepal and a few from parts unknown or the Moon. There are five male characters, five female characters, and two robot characters (one identifies as a male, one remains ambiguous.) Of the five female characters, two are wearing armored suits, two are wearing light armor, and one is wearing casual wear. Only one shows her cleavage in some way - all the others are covered. Of the nine human characters, three are Caucasian, two are African, one is Asian, one is purple, and two are unknown. Not to be Captain Social Justice, but man, props to Blizzard for some good diversity. Only two of the characters shown are explicitly evil (Reaper and Widowmaker, the two from the trailer.) Hard to say at this point.

jesus fucking christ i need overwatch in my life yesterday There is nothing about that game I do not like. I must give into the hype.

That's the sweetest fucking thing I've seen in a while. Thanks for sharing that. Capaldi is one hell of a guy.

Pardon the use of a certain image, but... Spoiler

Had a look at that ending. Spoiler So Isaac was the anti-christ and became it as a defense mechanism or something? Or was that him dying of suffocation and going to Hell because the Bible says suicide is wrong? The endings are already difficult enough to interpret, bah. Very cool and creepy, though. Also was that Hard Mode? Well played.

Had a long and drawn out fight with Satan boy that sounds weird out of context and at the final phase, he killed me... and then died as my buddy (Rainbow Baby, I think?) got the last hit. Didn't count, obviously, but so upset at how close it was.

The Cars franchise ugh I feel bad calling it that is ultimately successful because of merchandising. The same principal applied to the original Toy Story, too (except it was actually a good film as well.) The movie may be poor, but the characters are easy to recognise (red sports car is McQueen, silver Hudson is... Hudson, etc.) they are easy to design (take an existing car, put eyes on it, done) and they are already familiar as toys in the general public (toy cars have been around for decades, and are enjoyed by both children and adults.) So even if the film isn't that good, it's almost guaranteed to make a profit for merchandise. I don't blame them necessarily - merchandise is a form of revenue, and they've found a film setup that makes it quick and easy to do - but I still think the films are largely poor. The first one was mediocre, while the second was a jumbled up mess. Compare that with the LEGO Movie, which also made a fortune from merchandising but was a surprisingly well-made and enjoyable film. And that was Warner Animation's first film (after being dissolved and then remade), so there's not many excuses.

Duck Hunt's official theme song.