GamesCobra forums are live!

I just launched the forums of my new gaming website at GamesCobra.com/Forums 

We are looking to add the revolution of social media to the review of video games, so you do not have to read some lengthy corporate review. All of our reviews will be provided in a slick and easy fashion to be read and added to.

Come to the forums and start discussing what you like the most about video games.

Viva Las Vegas!

I just got back from my first trip to Las Vegas with Sarah, and it was awesome. We were there with our friends Doug and Heidi for their stag and stagette weekend. We stayed in the Flamingo hotel, just across the Strip from Caesars Palace. First thing, its the desert so it is hot, like sitting in your car with the heat all the way up, but not sticky hot, so I quite enjoyed some hot weather finally.

We visited the Coca-Cola store, and did a tray off flavours from the world, a range of Coca-Cola drinks from all over the globe. Some were awesome, some were nasty, and drinking 16 small cups of pop was tough. We also visited the M&M store, and the smell of chocolate almost took me away.

Sarah and I decided not to spend the $400 to rent a Dodge Viper SRT10.

The second night, the guys all went out together and the girls did their own thing. Us guys headed to Casino Royale, which as far from the James Bond equivalent as you can imagine. Fortunately this meant it was cheap and pretty friendly, which was good as I have no idea what I was doing in there. Doug was a big fan of the Blackjack table so we all joined him at our own table. I even managed to make $30!

Sarah and I went to see the Cirque du'Soleil show The Beatles LOVE. I am not a huge Beatles fan by any stretch, but the show they put on was incredible. We really look forward to being able to go back and see some more of their productions.

CM Punk makes wrestling relevant again

Unless you have been sleeping under a rock. you will have heard some mention of CM Punk's wild promo a few weeks ago, where he railed on the WWE, its business practices, its Chairman and his family, and the WWE fans. CM Punk delivered the best promo seen in many many years.

Here is that video


So, he goes to Chicago, his hometown, to battle for the WWE title, with his looming contract expiration and threat of leaving with the WWE title a serious pull for the Money in the Bank PPV. Vince attempted to screw him a la Montreal Screwjob 97, but the upstanding Cena won't sacrifice his good morals for Vince.

Here is that video


And now to maintain the madness, Vince McMahon was relieved of his duties on RAW the following night by his son in law HHH. Now, HHH was at Comic-Con in San Diego today answering questions, when in a an absolute genius move by WWE Creative, CM Punk shows up and shoots on HHH!



Wrestling has never been so relevant, or exciting!

Limitless

A movie that was produced by Bradley Cooper, so guess what? Its about Bradley Cooper. I really felt like none of the other characters were given a chance to fully develop. The story was essentially about Bradley Cooper's discovery of a drug that allows him to use the full mental capacity of his mind to fulfill his abilities to the maximum. It seems like that all he can manage to do with it is make some money.

The movie involves a sub plot of how the drug affects his mind, his relationships and potentially his health and well-being. There are some very trippy camera effects involving a travelling zoom that will mess with your mind.

Bradley Cooper is a favourite actor of mine right now, so a movie all about him is not such a bad thing. However, I felt short changed by the end. At least towards the end there is some attempt at redemption. Definitely worth a watch.

The Hosting Hippo

I have a new games website, and with the help of some great friends I will be launching that very soon! As part of that I obtained some hosting, and decided to set myself up some reseller accounts. This means I can offer hosting to those who need it.

It's also a work in progress, but you can check out its progress at the Hosting Hippo blog. We also have a Twitter account, and I would leave to hear feedback on what you think should be offered.

My initial thoughts were to offer blogging hosting for as low as $2 a month. Any ideas will be appreciated!

A new venture for me

I have decided to head into a new venture. Everyone who knows me knows I love video games, or just games in general. This is probably the main motivation in me deciding to start my own gaming website. I have been searching through Flippa.com to find the right site for me, and I came across it.

GamesCobra

I am very excited about this new direction for me. I hope to be able to create a great site that all gamers will look to use.

If you or anyone you know would like to contribute to the site, let me know. We have a Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter account, and we would love to hear your suggestions on how to make it the best gaming website on the internet.

Front line letters

An excerpt from a police officer's blog, in response to the pleas by rioters for clemency

Dear 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup Rioters,

Please stop saying you’re sorry. Stop posting YouTube videos begging for forgiveness. Stop writing letters asking that society cut you some slack and leave you alone.

While you were drunk and flipping cars, I was driving with all of my emergency equipment on to get into Vancouver. While you were throwing anything you could get your hands on at the police, I was pressure testing my APR and standing in the middle of the tear gas. While you and thousands of others disgraced Vancouver and its surrounding population, I stood shoulder to shoulder with a couple hundred men and women, whom I trust my life with, ready to address your indiscretions.

You came up to me like you owned the streets in your drunken stupor, thrust your middle fingers in my face and shouted obscenities; I didn’t snap you in half.

Actions speak louder than words.

You started “harmless” fires. You torched other men and women’s cars whom you’d never met and never did you wrong. You assaulted firemen as they arrived to try and deal with your “mistakes”. You took limited, valuable emergency resources away from good people who needed them. You endangered more lives by tying up emergency services than you ever considered.

You started fights. You stabbed people you’d never met because they somehow made you angry. You gave men and women trying to protect property life altering concussions. You brought paramedics into the tear gas and exhausted them trying to save people they’d never met.

You showed up to hospital emergency rooms crying because you’d been exposed to tear gas. You got obnoxious and demanded to be treated like you were somehow dying. You knew it was a riot, you chose not to leave, you chose to stick around and breathe the tear gas in. You took nurses and doctors away from people who needed their care to live. People they’d never met but work tirelessly to save. You demanded to be treated as if you were better than the rest of society.

You’d tell me that the emergency services personnel I speak of are paid to do this job and chose to be there. You’re right. We give a damn about people we’ve never met and property that isn’t ours, that’s why we do what we do. You disgust us.

What brought a tear to my eye, after the gas had cleared, was standing in the middle of an intersection at about 3 a.m. the only people I’d seen for the last 30 minutes were other police officers, until a shop keeper brought us a case of water. Then I saw a random person with a broom clearing the sidewalk. I had a duty to respond, the citizens of Vancouver immediately afterward could have just left it up to those paid to deal with it. They didn’t just stand by, they came out in force and cleaned up after your indiscretions. Everyone I saw that early morning thanked me, I was only doing my job. I have the utmost respect for all of the people from Vancouver and the surrounding areas that came downtown and volunteered to clean up after you.

You owe Vancouver and the surrounding population more than mere words. Don’t you dare ask for our forgiveness without taking responsibility. You can’t fix life altering injuries with an “I’m Sorry”. You can’t repay someone’s car loan with a YouTube video. You ask that people leave you and your family alone but you offer no way to replace priceless losses.

You’ll sleep soundly in your bed tonight because men and women like me will always be there to deal with your poor choices. You have no idea how fortunate you are, even after we arrest and charge you. Even though you disgust me, if you call for me in the middle of the night I’ll respond. I’ll protect your life and property because it’s right and it’s what I do.

The evening of June 15, 2011 fellow emergency services personnel, my brothers and sisters, left our families at home and while grossly out numbered stood to fight. The morning of June 16, 2011 the true heroes emerged to volunteer their time and restored my faith in humanity.

Actions speak louder than words. What are you going to do about that?

— a police officer from the suburbs, who was called in to serve and protect on that night; a proud Vancouverite.

Let's remember the true face of our city.

Clean up our city and our reputation

This post is mostly pictures. Please enjoy the images that prove Vancouver is not the images we saw Wednesday night.

Hundreds took to the streets to clean up our fair city

The wall of sorrow, where thousands posted the morning after

The shadow of these riots will linger for a long time, but at least we were able to witness a bright, positive aspect to our city, and to humanity. We are not always destructive and violent. When pushed by what we see as wrong, or degrading, many more than I believed, step up to make a difference.

Good job Vancouver.

I'm apologising, but what for?

And now for more on the riots.

As a disclaimer, I have no interest naming and shaming. Whilst effective as a deterrent, it serves only to cause mob justice towards otherwise innocent people, as this post will show. The links contain names, for that I cannot control.

Read the apology of a teen involved in the riot. This particular young man received some ardant vilification following the posting of a photo of him trying to set a police car on fire, and having it posted on the public shaming blog that arised after the riot.

In his apology, he apologises to all those in his community around him. His father is a doctor in the town that they live in, and accordingly he has suffered from some of the backlash that this has caused. My sympathy lies totally with his parents. I am sure that they never taught there son to behave in such a way, but because of his actions, his family's reputation has been brutally tarnished. His father's rating on an internet website allowing you to review your physician has dropped dramatically, although it appears that site will adjust the reviews accordingly.

His family will live in the spectre of their sons behaviour for a long time. He had to close his practice for a few days to stem the bombardment of phone calls that the vigilante justice squad was making. Don't get me wrong, this young man made a grave error and should be punished soundly, but his parents are now the unfortunate victims of his maligned behaviour.

Vancouver burns, but learns anonymity in an age of social media is impossible

In the wake of Vancouver's unsuccessful attempt to capture the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 40 year history, the streets were blighted by the grip of a few bottom feeders, aided by peer pressured youths and gawking crowds.

In reality, only about 10% of the crowd were actually causing any trouble, by overturning any unfortunate vehicle, porta-potty and garbage bin in their path. Several troublemakers showed up with gasoline, and I imagine it was not in case their car ran out.

But what of the other 90%? Thousands and thousands stood by and watched as willful and wanton destruction took place. Many recorded and photographed what they saw. A select few intervened but were quickly, and brutally, beaten down, for their attempts at being a Good Samaritan. To those, I feel truly sorry.

However, I am very concerned by the number of onlookers that remained in Vancouver's downtown during the events. How many burning cars and smashed windows do you need to see? Some people claim they were 'stuck' downtown. A ludicrous claim at best. Sure, it might take a longer walk, but if it means leaving the scene of a terrible crime, then do it!

Looting is the most brainless form of theft, thinking that the anonymity of the crowd means that stealing is more acceptable, because the 'item' was right there in front of you. Needless to say, the Louis Vutton bags on Craigslist the next day were more than likely stolen the night before.

Not to get into a legal lesson, but once the police have read the riot act, which they did in Vancouver on Wednesday night, you have the time the police have allowed to disperse and head home. Staying in the group now constitutes a crime, and the Vancouver Police Department gave rioters 10 minutes to disperse. As we saw on the night, many did not follow the advice.

Now the VPD has said that from all those pictures and videos taken, responsible citizens should identify those involved to help rounding up those responsible. Vancouverites have taken to the task in an unbelievable way. Mutliple groups on Facebook now exist to identify and shame those involved. One rioter had his Facebook status become so infamous, that he ended up trending on Twitter. Type in Brock Anton on Google or Twitter and you will see.

Tomorrow, I will talk about the efforts made by the brighter side of Vancouver to clean the city, and make some kind of recompense for the damage done by those intent on destruction.

L.A. Noire

Thanks to my friend Zac, who you can follow at iwasa16bitboy.blogspot.com, I started to play L.A. Noire. The commercials for the game made it out to be almost a movie, as it contains some new facial graphics that really brings the characters to life.

You play Phelps, a seemingly clean cut LA Police Officer who served in the Marines during the Second World War. You start out as a beat cop, but this is merely to introduce you to the intricacies of the game. Phelps is destined for more than mere beat work, and soon becomes the new hotshot detective.

The detective work has the feel of old school point and click games, such as Monkey Island and Full Throttle. You use these clues to piece together the evidence needed to bust the suspect when you interrogate them. Interrogation is mainly focused on the new facial graphics engine, which is superb. From the persons actions and expressions, you must determine whether to believe them, press for more information, or straight accuse them of lying, if you are able to back it up with evidence. The let down at this point is that despite how you do, you will still eventually come to the conclusion the game wants you to.

The open world environment is detailed, but seems almost pointless as you hardly spend time roaming. Unlike GTA, where mindless violence and driving are almost meaningful to the game, in L.A. Noire you are a clean cut cop, and clean cut cops do not run civilians down. Sorry to break it to you.

The gameplay feels repetitive, especially as you really can't go that wrong. The graphics are at the forefront of this game. I highly recommend playing it, however, as I believe this represents a new step for gaming. If they could develop this into a more open ended game, with your actions have repercussions on the outcome of the game, you could be looking at a new standard for console gaming.

Plants vs Zombies - "Braaaaaains!"

Pop Cap have released some fantastic time sinks, I mean, games in the last few years. Bejeweled, from its humble beginnings on mobile phones has now become a Facebook addiction, and is now available on Xbox Live Arcade. One of the other Arcade games that they released is the hilarious Plants vs Zombies.

As you know, Sarah loves zombies, so this game is the mix of Bejeweled and zombies that Sarah was looking for. She considered downloading it, but then it showed up in her work, so she picked it right up. In a frightening role reversal, I was forced to watch her play the game for at least 5 hours yesterday as she ploughed through the various levels, with a vast array of plants, from the basic Peashooter, the Wall-Nut and Sun-flower (you need sun to grow plants) to the fun 'Little Shop of Horrors' rip, the Chomper, the Jalapeno and my personal favourite, the Squash. He squashes the zombies.

The zombies are not just run of the mill brain-nomming zombies. Sure you have garden-variety zombies who shamble, but it doesn't stop there. Some Zombies use traffic cones, screen doors or buckets to protect themselves, and then there are the more humorous ones, such as the Disco Zombie who summons back up dancers, and the Zomboni, which ices up a lane for a bobsled zombie team.

Situations change, sometimes the zombies attack during the day, when the sun is out. Other times they attack at night when there is no sun, so you will have to create it with you plants. If the front yard doesn't work, they attack the back right through your pool, meaning you have to prepare for aquatic zombies.

It is no surprise to see that P vs Z appears on the top 20 Arcade titles for Xbox Live on Major Nelsons blog (www.majornelson.com) when he posts the latest online activity. It is an ingenious, fun and exciting game, and shows that sometimes the best games have the simplest premises'. Zombies who want your BRAAAAAAAINS!

Plants vs Zombies Game of the Year Limited Edition

WWE: Inside WWE News Sin Cara joins WWE

Inside WWE - News - Sin Cara joins WWE
STAMFORD, Conn. – WWE today unveiled their latest Superstar signing, Sin Cara, formerly known worldwide as Mistico. The announcement took place today during a press conference in his hometown Mexico City, where passionate fans of all ages turned out to see their favorite performer become the newest addition to the WWE roster.

Having already forged a strong international fan following, Sin Cara, known for his high-flying style and awe-inspiring acrobatics, is expected to reach new heights of global success with WWE.

“Sin Cara is a tremendous performer who brings the crowd to its feet every time he steps into the ring,” said Stephanie McMahon, Executive Vice President, WWE. “With us, his stardom will only get bigger and brighter.”

Upon his signing, Sin Cara said, “WWE is the pinnacle of sports-entertainment. It is an honor and a thrill for me to be able to perform with the world’s best. Being a WWE Superstar will present new challenges, new mountains to climb and new competition. It is a new beginning and a new life. With that in mind, I have chosen the new name of Sin Cara in hopes to represent all the legendary Mexican masked performers and to carry the banner of their legacy to the entire world.”

Libya and evolved dictators

Unless you have been living under a rock, you will be well aware of some torrid events occurring in North Africa and the Middle East. Libya is the latest of these nations to find a voice clamouring for democracy.

A quick history lesson about the Libyan revolution of 1969

"On 1 September 1969, a small group of military officers led by then 27-year-old army officer Muammar al-Gaddafi staged a coup d'état against King Idris, launching the Libyan Revolution. At the time, Idris was in Turkey for medical treatment. His nephew, Crown Prince Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Sanussi, was exercising regal powers at the time as King Idris had sent a signed document indicating his intent to step down as King on 2 September 1969. It was clear however that the revolutionary officers, who had announced the deposition of King Idris, did not want to appoint Crown Prince Hassan over the instruments of state as King, so the Crown Prince never attained that position.

Gaddafi was at the time only a captain and his co-conspirators were all junior officers. Nevertheless the small group seized Libyan military headquarters (due to the sympathies of the stationed men) and the radio broadcasting station with 48 rounds of revolver ammunition. Before the end of the day, Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida had been formally deposed by the revolutionary army officers and put under house arrest. In the meanwhile the revolutionary officers abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the new Libyan Arab Republic. Gaddafi was, and is to this day, referred to as the "Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution" in government statements and the official Libyan press." (www.wikipedia.org)

So how do dictators in our day and age hold on to their power? Alexander, Xerxes or Caesar would have simply sent the Elites, Immortals or Praetorians round and cut you, and you family, into little pieces. Nowadays, communications mean this kind of behaviour ends up on Twitter before it hits the New York Times.

Mubarak declared a state of emergency in Egypt for 33 years, ending any chance of democratic elections, until, spurred by events in Tunisia, the people decided to remove the element that prevented them from having a fair chance to vote their own officials. They had some rough times, but eventually got what they wanted. Not what there leader wanted, what the people wanted. Sounds like democracy.

Gaddafi, on the other hand, claims that he is not an elected official and therefore cannot be removed. As dictators go, Gaddafi is probably one of the craziest, next to Mahidamenajad of Iran.

I mean, come on, does this image look like a guy in control. He shows up in a tuk-tuk, with a brolly, says "I'm not in Venezuela" and now he's good to stay as ruler of Libya!

In all seriousness, the violence that has come from the proceedings is shocking and frightening, showing that there are Libyan's more loyal to a man than their nation. I dare anyone to find a good thing Gaddafi has done for Libya or its people. I doubt you will, as his own people have decided that, in all honesty, he hasn't.

I pray daily for the people of Libya, that they can become the nation they want to be, and no longer be shackled to the whims of ludicrous, outdated dictator

WWE: Superstars Where Are They Now? The Mountie Classic Photos

WWE: Superstars Where Are They Now? The Mountie Classic Photos

A look back at the WWF's classic personalities, back in the days of over the top characterisation for wrestling angles.

The Horde - French Zombies "zut alore!"

Sarah has a real penchant for Zombie movies. When it comes to horror she isn't usually the biggest fan, especially of anything paranormal. But zombies are obviously not real, so she likes them! Last night she brought home The Horde from work.

It started with a loose plotline to give us a reason why people with guns are in a condemned building in France. During the botched assault the cops and criminals find themselves in the middle of Judgement Day, surrounded by zombies, and watching there friends and neighbours who they just killed in the shoot out come back to get them.

There is some attempts to get a decent plotline in here, and perhaps if I spoke French I would have cared, but I didn't. As zombie movies go it managed to avoid quite a few clichés, building on the success of recent zombie-esque movies to avoid the usual tense moment build ups that are now common place.

It is violent, perhaps not in some aspects and in comparison to other zombie flicks, but watching one of the main characters flatten a zombies face on a pillar was pretty gruesome. One of the key features of this film was the hand to hand combat with the zombies. It suffers from clear editing and frame rate issues, but its pretty imaginative as you don't often see the humans squaring off with the undead. The movie has an overall arc, the beginning and the end essentially showing that everyone ends up dead, zombiefied or not.

If you are a zombie nerd like my wife and I, this is worth a watch. If you are casual on horror's, don't bother.

Monday Night Raw 2/21/11

Some big developments tonight on Monday Night Raw.

John Cena called out The Rock. Whether this will lead to an actual match is to be seen. His "Fresno" rap was quite amusing.

The much anticipated return of The Undertaker was interrupted by the return of HHH. In all honesty I couldn't see anyone other than HHH facing The Undertaker at WM27. The whole episode was a incredible display of the respective Superstars personalities with the WWE fans. Neither had to grab a mic to get the biggest pops of the night, culminating in the expected WrestleMania throwdown.

John Morrison better get a push soon. He is the next HBK if they give him the opportunity.

The tag team titles became The Corre's at Elimination Chamber, but now they defend them against The Miz and John Cena. The Miz railroads Justin Gabriel for the win and Miz and Cena celebrate somewhat together. However, Wade Barrett calls for the rematch clause to be enacted immediately, so the Raw GM calls for the bell! Props to The Miz, Cena and The Corre for making this match live up to what has been a big night for returns. Eventually, despite the crowd cheering him on, The Miz lives up to his heel name and turns on Cena.

6 weeks to WM27

Supreme Commander

Well I just finished another wild skirmish game of Supreme Commander. SC is a RTS game... and at this point I almost said like Command and Conquer. But its not. It is a totally unique RTS game. The sheer volume of units and the scientific, yet easily manageable level of resource allocation is superb.

It can be really daunting to manage all these units, especially as I play on the Xbox 360, but of all the RTS games I have played on a console, its control system is probably the most robust and slick I have ever used.

Its all good right? Well, the few problems I have encountered have been the AI's ability. Even 3 Supreme commanders got annihilated by me in about 1 hour as there tactics are all a bit obvious, and playing over Xbox Live is pretty difficult as hardly anyone plays it. But if its so good why don't they play it online?



Frame rate issues and freezing, that's why. If you don't install this game to your hard drive you might as well put the kettle on, because its slows down a lot once you have a ton of units on the screen. It can also lock during the end of a mission and when it saves. Installing it solves most of these problems.

I am a bit late to the Supreme Commander party, but I am really enjoying it now!

Assassins Creed Brotherhood Mutliplayer

As those who know me are aware, I have stayed as far away from CoD:Black Ops as I can. The reasons for that are for a completely other post. Anyway, I have been playing AC:Brotherhood Multiplayer a great deal these last few weeks.

When I initially started to play it, I only play Wanted, which is essentially a Free-for-all with all the playable personas having a single target to find and kill. It's Assassins Creed, so off you go steathily to kill your target. But guess what? No one plays Wanted with stealth. Every time I got killed on Wanted it was by someone sprinting around. It felt like the spirit of the game was not being observed. Typical n00bz. Oh well, I always say, play to win.

So I moved on to Manhunt. Now this is a game type where the spirit of the game is being met. You work as a team to either hide together and escape your pursuers, gaining more points by hiding close together and stunning your hunters. When you are doing the killing, you have to find your targets through all the morphed, disguised and hidden targets. Teamwork and efficiency are essential to make sure you don't get whipped.

The targeting system can feel a bit wonky, and you often find yourself assassinating a persona that walks in the way as you go to kill your target, then promptly get stunned. This can be frustrating, but it doesn't happen too often.



Look out for AC:Brotherhood multiplayer tactics, coming soon!