andPOP » summer

Review: MLB 2K10 – Where Are My Peanuts and Cracker Jacks?

Aaron Cappe — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:42:04 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

I’m going to get something off my chest right out of the gate: I haven’t been a fan of baseball nor baseball videogames for the last decade or so. Watching the game can be downright boring, and playing a virtual representation seems to result in little more than timing mini-games and a few button presses.

Then along comes Visual Concepts’ MLB 2K10. For the first time since I last held aloft a piece of lumber, here’s a video game that actually made me feel like I was playing the game again. Everything feels crisp, clean, and connected – as if you are actually on the mound dueling with the batter, desperately trying to keep the sweat out of your eyes as you look down another full count with the bases loaded.

The presentation of the 2K10 is spot on, from the commercial bumpers during the telecast, to the voiceovers calling the shots during the games themselves. Having spent enough time running bases and trying to make double plays, I have yet to hear a repeat canned soundbite, which was a great surprise and welcome change from previous years’ entries. You get the best of both worlds from Visual Concepts’ setup – all of the stats and random personal facts that hardcore hardball fans crave, but enough of the “seen on TV” presentation that it flows wonderfully into you actually stepping into the batter’s box to see just how far you can crank that sliding fastball.

Your options for gameplay seems to have improved significantly as well. You can play any MLB game currently being played, or set up to be played on a specific day through MLB Today. It’s always fun to see if you can do a better job than the big boys at there own game (or feel as humbled as they do when things don’t exactly work out the way you wanted them to). Home Run Derby is included, and is pretty much exactly what it claims to be: hit homers, anything else is an out, get the most points. My Player is the heart of the game, and you’ll definitely find yourself spending the majority of time grinding away through this mode. You create a rookie phenom, pick your favourite franchise to be drafted into, and then set off to try to become an MLB legend.

Skill points are awarded just about every time you hit the field. Hit a single, and you get points for hitting. Make an assist, and you get points for fielding. Cross home plate with a run, and you get points for baserunning. Strike out the side, and you get points for pitching. You can see where this is going. There are special objectives and clutch situations which provide extra points: you might be called upon to record an out in under five pitches, or work a hit-and-run when standing on first. You take part only in the plays that your player is involved in, which allows you to zip through entire seasons while still playing nearly every game on the schedule.

However, all the action you see depends on the position you choose, of course. If you play a pitcher, you’re right in there with every toss from the mound, and you can even get called up to the majors after making a measly five starts in AA. If you assume the role of a catcher (my personal choice, as that was my position back in the day), you just take your at-bats and step into the field every now and then to try to pick off steals for second, or bunts for easy outs at first. Unless you’re completely committed to your role, you will get tired of seeing the same few animations repeated over and over. Still, the role-playing aspect is superb, and you’ll find yourself feeling a real team vibe.

My Player is not only addictive – you can actually see your player working their way up with each improvement you give to their stats, adding a very nice RPG element to an otherwise good sports game – but very unforgiving at the same time. Especially if you choose anything other than a pitching role. The game becomes very tedious trying to fill out the criteria for being called up the majors. Want a power hitter but not too interested in a Willie Mays Hays? Good luck, because you need to get your baserunning speed up to 65 before a call will come down from any GM for you. This system needs a little tweaking, but overall there’s a lot of potential for something great over the next season. As long as the balancing act is polished up for next years’ release, My Player has the potential for drawing you in and keeping you there for a long, long time.

Visually, the game is beautiful. Player models are spot on, and facial expressions are not only visible this time around, but actually reflect what’s going on during the game. Pitcher has the bases loaded? Not only will you see a reaction on the player model, but you will feel the intensity as your controller vibrates to show how much pressure you’re actually feeling. This definitely makes controlling your pitches more difficult, but adds to the realism of the game – you have to line up where you want your pitch to end up while you’re setting up, then have to lock in your context-sensitive pitch. If you make a messy stick-move, or enter it too fast or too slow, you could throw it in the dirt or into the umpire’s face. This really adds to the dynamic of the pitcher-batter duel, and draws you even further into the game, allowing you to glimpse what it would actually be like to be out there on your own.

A few aspects of gameplay feel off though. At the default slider settings, everything in the field is too frantic when you’re out there, which comes as a bit of a shock when compared to the duel between pitchers and batters. Speed isn’t so extreme that you can’t make plays, but ball and player movements have been accelerated so that catches and throws often look unrealistic. Weird animations make this effect worse. It’s just about impossible to steal a base with anyone but the best runners in the MLB. You have to get off to a perfect jump: go a split-second early, you get picked off. A split-second late, and you’re gunned down by a throw that always seems to be dead. It’s immensely frustrating, particularly when you’re doing baserunning drills early on with a My Player prospect.

But these problems pale in comparison to issues with online multiplayer. The games are lag-filled, and seemingly impossible to get into, and if you do manage it, expect your opponent to quit out on you at the earliest opportunity.

MLB 2K10 is a very good baseball game but still needs to be refined in a number of areas, which keeps it from knocking the ball out of the park. Even still, the franchise has certainly taken a huge leap forward and sets the stage for next year’s game to make a legitimate run for the title.

Graphics: 4/5

Gameplay: 4/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay: 4/5

Rihanna to Go on Summer Tour w/ Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj

Sara Harowitz — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:24:07 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Barbados-born pop singer Rihanna is hitting the North American roads this summer, with two rising stars as her opening acts.

On July 2, Rihanna will kick off her “Last Girl on Earth” tour in Seattle and will wrap up in Chicago on August 25, rollingstone.com reports.

The tour, promised by the singer to be a “massive production that I cannot wait for,” has two up-and-comers joining her: crazy-wild pop singer Ke$ha, and Lil Wayne protege Nicki Minaj. Tickets go on sale through LiveNation on April 9.

Rihanna is also scheduled to perform on American Idol on April 7.

News of her tour pops up after spending three weeks on the Hot 100, where she is enjoying her longest stint at Number One with “Rude Boy” since her super-hit “Umbrella” was on the charts.

See Rihanna along with Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj here:

July 2 – Seattle, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
July 4 – Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
July 6 – Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddeldome
July 9 – Sacramento, CA @ ARCO Arena
July 10 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View
July 14 – Albuquerque, NM @ Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque presents The Pavilion
July 15 – Denver, CO @ Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
July 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Events Center
July 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
July 22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion
July 28 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
July 30 – Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
July 31 – Miami, FL @ American Airlines Center
August 3 – Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Center Indianapolis
August 5 – Toronto, ON @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
August 7 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
August 8 – Boston, MA @ Comcast Center
August 11 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
August 12 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 15 – Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
August 18 – Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
August 20 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
August 21 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
August 22 – Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
August 25 – Chicago, IL @ United Center

Lady Gaga to go on Tour…Again

Sara Harowitz — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:31:46 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Before even finished her current world tour, Lady Gaga is set to do it all again.

As rollingstone.com reports, Gaga is embarking on a 31-date North American summer tour, starting June 28 in Quebec.

Gaga describes the tour as the first ever “pop-electro opera.”

“The theatrics and story elements are in the style of an opera,” Gaga told Rolling Stone in an interview last year. “Imagine if you could take the sets of an opera, which are very grand and very beautiful, and put them through a pop-electro lens. The design of the show is very, very forward, very, very innovative. I’ve been thinking about ways to play with the shape of this stage and change the way that we watch things.”

It only seems natural for the ever-changing Gaga, who, when her current tour returned in England, added a 40-foot aminatronic sea monster and a new storyline (in which she and her friends race to a party) to the show.

Tickets for most stops on the tour go on sale this Friday, March 19, through Live Nation. Opening acts are due to be announced shortly.

Last week, Gaga created a hefty buzz with the premiere of her new music video for “Telephone,” which features Beyoncé, sex, violence, and product placement.

See Lady Gaga here:

June 28 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
July 1 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
July 4 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall
July 6 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
July 11 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
July 14 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
July 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ Conseco Fieldhouse
July 17 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
July 20 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Ford Center
July 22 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
July 25 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
July 28 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
July 31 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center
August 3 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
August 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
August 13 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand
August 16 – San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
August 19 – Portland, OR @ Rose Garden
August 21 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
August 23 – Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
August 26 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
August 30 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
Sept. 1 – Milwaukee, WI @ Bradley Center
Sept. 4 – Detroit, MI @ The Palace Of Auburn Hills
Sept. 5 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Consol Energy Center
Sept. 7 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
Sept. 8 – Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
Sept. 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center
Sept. 16 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
Sept. 18 – Charlotte, NC @Time Warner Cable Arena
Sept. 19 – Raleigh, NC @ RBC Center

Gossip Girl Premiere More WTF? Than OMG!

Emma Renda — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:49:10 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

The cast of Gossip Girl spent the summer on extravagant vacations (in both TV-land and reality), but it seems the rest of the world isn’t too interested in their homecoming.

Thursday’s premiere finished with a 36 per cent decrease in viewers, compared to the 2008 premiere. It’s a shocking drop for a show whose cast spent their time off in the spotlight, generating a real-time version of gossip.

Leighton Meester made the music press recording a single with Cobra Starship and launching her personal MySpace with plans for a debut solo album.

Chace Crawford was voted this summer’s hottest bachelor by People Magazine, beating out the smouldering Robert Pattinson and, unexpectedly, Dwayne Johnson (better known as The Rock).

Then there was the somewhat misleading reports of Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass on GG) getting some male affection from his new co-star Neal Bledsoe, in a spoiler leak that reveals the two in an on-screen liplock.

A show that never skimps on budget, Gossip Girl also picked up mainstream guest-stars Hilary Duff, Tyra Banks and Sonic Youth, carrying on last season’s trend that picked up the likes of No Doubt and cast Michelle Trachtenberg in a permanent role.

You’d think that kind of clout would be enough to draw all of last year’s viewers, not to mention anyone who paid attention to this summer’s celebrity gossip.

It may take a few episodes to remind people GG has routinely been one of the more shocking, OMFG-inducing shows on television. Then again, its loyal viewers could have been seduced by this year’s vampire fetish, True Blood, a series coming fast on the heels of Twilight-mania.

Or it could be that we are getting our fill of the Gossip Girls via their real-life antics in which case Cecily von Ziegesar (author of the original novels) should be pissed.

Game Review: Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen

Aaron Cappe — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:06:31 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Less Than Meets The Eye

Normally, video game tie-ins to blockbuster movies suffer rush-to-release, loosely-based-on, terribly-voiced products. In all of these categories, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen excels. Once the disc starts spinning up, you get the standard “voice-over to bring you up to speed” cinematics. Which would be tolerable, except Peter Cullen sounds completely bored out of his mind, and is just waiting to see the recording light in the studio shut off so he can go home. Not the best way to get the player into the mood for what follows. Although, it is an honest measure of things to come.

From a technical standpoint, Revenge builds on the original Transformers game, itself a tie-in to the 2007 film. There were numerous issues with the original, from poor environment detailing, shoddy controls, boring missions and a general lack of feeling like you are controlling a 30 foot mechanical behemoth. In Revenge, you have much better looking character models, almost identical in scale and detail as their movie counterparts, and you have decent enough environments to play around in. The most inconvenient thing is that you are always forced to remain within the confines of a pre-determined “action zone”, and there is simply no way to escape it. See a neat skyline in the background of Shanghai? Forget it – you’re stuck in the same quarter-mile block of identical buildings, fighting identical looking robot drones.

Controls haven’t improved much either. In fact, they’ve taken a few evolutionary steps backwards from the original. You are now forced to use the right trigger to transform – and hold it down to remain transformed. This wouldn’t be such a big issue, except that this is also your acceleration function. So once you transform, you’re always moving. And if you want to brake? Well, don’t take your finger off the trigger, or else you change back to your robot form. Sure, you’re saying, that’s not so bad. Okay – but the same button also controls you’re primary weapon in robot mode. I lost track of the number of times I would fight to target an enemy, lock on, and then ….. change into a truck and drive straight into a wall. All the while taking potshots from enemies the camera refused to allow me to focus on.

Now, I’m all for head-scratching controls. But combined with boring, tedious, and worst of all, repetitive missions, it feels like the game was specifically designed so you would scream at the top of your lungs “Yes, I actually like the movie better!”. Escort missions where characters fail to appear where you need them, or appear and disappear once you arrive at their destination; Protection missions where your allies are completely useless and will head straight for new enemy fire while you are still attempting to recover from the last blitz of generated enemies; pointless race missions where you never feel like you can control your vehicle, mostly because when you need to take a quick turn, you’ll inadvertently transform into your robot mode.

Bumblebee, Flame on!

To add even more salt to this wound is the atrocious voice acting. Megatron and Optimus Prime are voiced fairly well, although both Peter Cullen and Frank Welker seem to have had a lot less fun with this round of studio time than the last outing. The rest of the Autobots and Decepticons however, leave a lot to be desired. For the most part it seems as if their volume controls were somehow lost during post-production, or their robotic sound effects modules are cranked past eleven. The human voice-overs are even less tolerable, which is good because they only show up every now and then.

Something very odd, and very off-putting, I found during the cutscenes between missions where your current leader will tally up your bonuses and mission objectives, was that Optimus Prime seemed to be a lot harder on his troops than Megatron ever was. I’m not afraid to say that I actually felt put down when I was told I needed to start finishing more secondary objectives or we would lose the war. And then I felt mad for the designers thinking that they could ever force people to keep playing this disaster of a game.

The only time this game has a chance to actually shine is in the multiplayer component. This is quite simply, the games most redeeming quality. It’s not amazing, but it’s much more fun to fight against actual people than the shoddy A.I., and the modes are all generally fun. There’s classic Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, along with a Transformers version of Capture the Flag, where you need to capture five pieces of the All-Spark. There’s also One Shall Stand mode, where the goal is to take out the other team’s leader; and Control Points, which is something very similar to what you find in Unreal Tournament III. Working together with other people to take down the enemy leader is actually quite a rewarding experience – as long as the game doesn’t freeze mid-session.

Don't forget the DLC packs for new Transformer skins.

Overall, I have to say that this is a game only the most die-hard of die-hard fans can enjoy. There are a number of unlockables, such as classic Generation 1 television episodes (S.O.S. Dinobots, Fire on the Mountain), as well as G1 single- and multi-player skins for some of the robots, and you can start accumulating enough points to unlock things within the first few missions. However, the presentation, controls, repetitiveness and general lack of polish simply make this another quick-release money-printing vehicle – wait until this one ends up in the bargain bin.

Gameplay: 2/5

Graphics: 3/5

Sound: 3/5

Replay: 2/5

Outer Panel Haven. 6

sarge-ak47 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:18:35 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Happy summer everyone!

Today I wanted to give you that escape comic which I doodled while at work. It’s actually based off the fine people at threePanelSoul.com. I love there comics and well this made my summer last year http://www.threepanelsoul.com/view.php?date=2007-05-07

So it’s a tribute piece of what I’d rather be doing this summer than stuck in an office.

As always, to see the web comic in it’s full size glory, all you have to do is click on the image and enjoy!

Demi Lovato And David Archuleta Team Up For Tour

Ilan Mester — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:15:54 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

“Camp Rock’s” Demi Lovato and “American Idol” alum David Archuleta are teaming up for a nationwide tour.

Lovato announced the tour on her website and Myspace page, and sited Archuleta as her “special guest,“ making it clear who’s opening for who.

The tour will kick off on June 21 in Hartford, Connecticut and will feature a 47-city trek. Jordan Pruitt and the group KSM will be joining the tour on select dates, according to MTV News.

“I’m so excited about headlining my own tour. I love life on the road. I’m in a different city every night, and it never gets old,” said Lovato to People.

She previously opened for the Jonas Brothers during their tour last summer. This summer tour will also coincide with Lovato’s planned sophomore album, due for release sometime in the summer, most likely during the end of her tour.

After all the shows are over, the Disney star will be filming the “Camp Rock” sequel.

Jonas Brothers To Tour With Jordan Sparks

Ilan Mester — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:05:45 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Brothers Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas announced dates for an upcoming world tour on Wednesday (March 11).

The tour will kick off on June 20 in Dallas with the brothers hitting 44 cities in North America, and includes London and Paris dates according to MTV News.

“American Idol” season-six winner Jordan Sparks will be joining the Jonas Brothers on the tour, as will Honor Society. The tour is set to end in Ottawa on August 30.

“This tour is going to be about really connecting with our fans,” said lead singer Joe Jonas in a statement. “We’ve got new music that’s taking us in new directions, plus a mind-blowing production that’s going to surprise everyone. We want to give the audience the summer concert they’re not going to ever forget.”

Canadian tour dates include June 30 (Vancouver), July 2 (Edmonton), August 29 (Montreal), August 30 (Toronto) and August 31 (Ottawa).

Tickets for the tour will go on sale on March 20, but if you’re a members of the band’s fan-club, you get a chance to buy tickets on March 16.