Dark Knight Rises Review

Ok so first off I want you guys to know this is going to be a spoiler free discussion on the movie. I believe that all of the things that could be spoiled must be seen on the screen as they are presented in a manner that is very, very good. 

I do want to start off with a little background information. For those of you who don't know, this is the third and final film in the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale Batman trilogy. Batman Begins kicked off the reboot taking Batman in a much needed more serious direction. It showed how Batman got started and introduced us to two great Batman villains, Scarecrow and Ra's al Ghul. It was met with both critical and financial success. It was followed up 3 years later by Dark Knight. Dark Knight introduced us to Joker (portrayed by Heath Leadger in what is arguably his best role ever). Dark Knight was also significant because it was the highest grossing comic book movie of all time... until The Avengers broke that record this summer. And now 4 years later Dark Knight Rises is out showing us Bane and Catwoman. 

 

Now this is a fairly long movie so you guys should be prepared to sit for a while clocking in at 2 hours 45 minutes. I also want to let you know there may be a trailer of next summer's Man of Steel which I am personally looking forward to. I say the trailer may be there because depending on the theater it may or may not be there. The movie doesn't feel like a 3 hour movie though. The editing and writing push the action along at a very fast pace. I did see the movie in IMAX and it looked incredible. I would recommend to see it that way if you can afford it. I am a huge Batman nerd and this movie really rewards it like few other movies I have seen before it

I would like to make some recommendations of how to prepare yourself for this movie as well. First I would recommend you go and watch Batman Begins before you see this movie. A lot of the key plot elements tie back to that movie much more so then to Dark Knight. One of the things I like most about these movies is that they don't retell a specific Batman story but take a lot of elements from various Batman stories over the years. There are some Batman books that I would recommend you read because this movie takes a lot of elements from them. The first is Batman: Long Halloween. The second is Batman Knightfall. I do recommend reading both volumes of Knightfall. Knightfall is also pretty significant as it is basically the most definitive Bane story.

No go out and watch it. Watch it now!

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

RTX 2012!

I know I said I would post this on Monday but I didn't get a chance. But its better late then never right?

Don't remember what RTX is? Go back and check out my last post: http://wiredgamers.blogspot.com/2012/07/what-is-rtx.html 

I worked as a volunteer helping to run a special booth on the show floor called the Immersion Museum. This booth consisted of items from a video series Rooster Teeth did called Immersion where in the two test subjects were thrown into situations similar to what someone would experience in serious different video game situations.

So there is a little sampling of Immersion. In fact those glasses were one of the displays at the booth. And I was responsible for them. We had the camera set up and would take two people and have them try and play catch a plush Grifball. It was very amusing to say the least.

This is a picture of what the booth looked like. 

The line for registration.

Yeah that is the Halo 4 booth. Unfortunately I didn't get to play it but I saw some demos and it looks great! 

And that is the reason I didn't get to play Halo 4. The crowds you see in the back and to the left is the Halo 4 line.

 From my booth I could see the e-sports arena. This is a game of Halo 4 that was being played.

Do a Barrel roll! (In a warthog haha)

And yes. Those are the "official" Rooster Teeth Red vs Blue guys playing DDR just behind my booth.

Ultimately I didn't get to do and see as much as I wanted, but I had a lot of fun. I love the Rooster Teeth community and I look forward to maybe going next year. I really had a good time working with the Rooster Teeth staff and they sure know how to put on a great event!

Also on Saturday night there was a concert and mixer. I did take some video of the show but it turned out really bad so I don't really want to put it out there.

The only bad part about it was that I had to leave on Sunday night instead of Monday like I wanted. But other then that it was great. If you guys get a chance to go next year I recommended going! 

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

Me in the Immersion Booth wearing some of the props.

What is RTX?

Happy 4th of July to all of our readers in the US! So if you want to take a break from blowing up fireworks and eating BBQ I am going to tell you guys about the little convention I am going to down in Austin, TX called the Rooster Teeth Expo or RTX.

You guys may or may not have heard of a production company down in Austin called Rooster Teeth. They are best known for their popular we series Red vs Blue which recently started its 10th Season. For those of you who have never seen the show here is a taste:

 

RTX 2012 is Rooster Teeth's second fan expo they have hosted in their hometown.  Last year it was a very small and limited event but this year Rooster Teeth is expanding exponentially. They sold out last week to 4,000 registered participants. I will be on staff in a sense as I will be working as a volunteer at the event. 

Alright so here is the fan input section. What do you guys want me to see? This will be the first open to the public demo of Halo 4 and I will try to see it but I can't make any promises? Tell me in the comments what you want to see! Here is a list of the exhibitors at RTX: RTX Exhibitors.

Look for an article when I get back!

Carry On!

-Spieg89

Disc07's NES PC Build: Part 1.6b (Case Mods)

I will agree with many of the critics out there, this post will most likely be better presented as a Tumblr-esque blog, but is this stopping me? Nope! Here is a bit of an update of my build. I am still a few parts down from completing the watercooled NES computer, but here are some stills to wet your whistle during this epic E3 week.

The Watercooler and SSD nestled nicely at the base of the case. 

A rather crude hole cut on the base of the NES to accommodate the 120mm fan. 

USB hub to replace the second controller port.

Disc07's NES PC Build: Part 1.5b (Watercooling!?)

Okay, this may be a little bit of an overkill in a system so small, but I want this system to be different than all of the others out there, even if it mean squeezing a radiator and cooling block into the classic Nintendo console. As of yet, I have not seen any NES HTPC Build with a liquid cooling system, so here is where my system will stand out in the crowd!

I have been toying with the idea of integrating water cooling into another system of mine, but now that I have a brand new toy to play with, I figured that I may as well squeeze it in to this NES, what is turning out to be a beast of a system. After shopping around, I decided on choosing the Antec Kuhler H2O 620 mainly because of its low profile size when compared to the competitors. It comes paired with a 120mm x 25mm intake fan, but I went ahead and ordered a slim 120mm x 12mm Scyth fan to save the extra 13mm of height within the box.

Big box, tiny package. 

Like I mentioned before, I had never heard of anybody putting a cooler in their NES PC, mainly because of room issues. I took the challenge and immediately found some flaws in my reasoning. 1) The tubing is 13 inches long. Despite being kink free with the setup I have, I would like to modify the tubes to make them about 5 inches, relieving a lot of space in the NES. 2) There is also a lot of tension created when placing the cooling block upside-down like below; hopefully after the tubing is shortened this tension will be relieved.

TOO MANY TUBES! 

I did find a spectacular tutorial online on dismantling the 620 which will be helping me immensely when it comes to cutting these tubes. If you want to check it out, it's over on the Tomorrow's Gaming forums here. As per the rest of the build, as always, I will continue after the weekend on Monday; and I hope that you continue to follow the build then. Monday's will showcase some more of the case, and various mods that have been going on on that front. So far here is how it is coming pricewise:

Intel i5 3550 ($189.99)

Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) Memory Module ($42.49)

The NES Case, Hardware, and Paint (<$10)

Patriot Pyro 2.5" 120GB Solid State Drive ($99.99)

Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Liquid Cooler ($61.99)

Scyth 120mm x 12mm Case Fan ($10.39)

Total Savings: $100.10 

Total Price: $414.85

Disc07's NES PC Build: Part 1.4b (The SSD)

The next component of this build matches my lifestyle quite well: The Patriot Pyro SATA III 120GB Solid State Drive. Once again, my dealer of choice was Newegg, mainly, this time because of the cost of the drive. Lately when looking at drives, or if you are in the neighborhood for buying one at this time, the dollar per gig pricepoint is what you are looking for. I purchased this solid state for the excellent price of $100, over half off of the original price of $160. If you are interested, you can take a better look at the drive here on Newegg.

FIRRRRRRRRE! 

The read/write speed is 550MB/515MB/s respectfully, so this is a speedy little devil. Another plus of this drive it its VERY small form-factor: only 2.5". Looking at the package, it actually looks quite large, but if you take the drive out and it is surprisingly small. I really wasn't expecting such large storage attributed to such a small package.

For the Canadian readers out there. Here is a little comparison to your  'Toonie.'

There isn't really much more to say about this drive in this state, once it is hooked up, boot times, ect will be accounted for and be in the final review of the system. So far, here is how the build is adding up:

Intel i5 3550 ($189.99)

Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) Memory Module ($42.49)

The NES Case, Hardware, and Paint (<$10)

Patriot Pyro 2.5" 120GB Solid State Drive ($99.99)

Total Savings: $87.50 

Total Price: $342.47

On Friday, we will be talking about something a little different that has never been done with one of these NES builds before, we'll have to see how it goes.

Until then, Disc07 Out!

Disc07's NES PC Build: Part 1.3b (The Case)

If you haven't noticed, I have went back and renamed the previous posts to include that this build is indeed my take on the various NES PC builds around the net. I grew up with this machine as a mainstay of my catalog of games and would play it every waking hour of my young childhood. Around 2007, people around the interwebs began toying with the idea of cramming the entirety of a PC in to their old Nintendo consoles and ended up being very successful. These builds were mostly used as HTPCs to stream videos, music, and pictures through their home entertainment centers and on to their televisions. But as I see it, it is 2012: Five years after the NES HTPC crew began modding their classic consoles; processors have gotten quicker and components have gotten smaller, shouldn't we be able to make these NES consoles do more than just stream?

Darn tootin!

What I began with this go-around

Ever since builds began back in 2007, I have wanted to build a PC out of an NES console. But until now, I haven't had the funds to support my ideas. I began with an NES that I had grabbed years ago at a Goodwill for only a few dollars and continued to gut the entire thing. Once gutted, my eyes were quickly drawn to the abundance of room that was once taken up by the 8-bit innards. The outer dimension at their widest at 10in x 8in x 3.5in, so even with the large amount of room I had to work with, many components would soon be choking the insides of the Nintendo as they once did with the aforementioned parts from 1986.

As you can see, I have already started some body work on the case

After I gutted the case, I cut out where the power, coax, and a/v output was with my handy Dremel tool. I decided to do this since they protruded some in to the inside of the case and I figured, the more room in there the better. This saved about a half of on inch where this components used to lie. Not much room, but enough for the extra elbow grease it took.


Over the last few summers, I became very proficient at using Bondo to patch dents and holes in my pickup truck, and I figured that the same concept could be applied here as well. So I ran out to my garage, grabbed what was left of my Bondo and hardener and went after the task of patching up the large holes left from my Dremel blade. Overall, the results ended up looking awesome! 

Don't you just love the smell of Bondo in the morn?

The dull look of the finish is result of a couple of hours of sanding down the bottom portion of the Nintendo with 400 grit wet sandpaper to prep for a future touch up paint job. Surprisingly, I found an exact match for the paint at my local Ace Hardware store, so once I get all of the holes cut for the fans and components, it should be ready for a shot of primer and a couple of coats of store brand "Machinery Grey" paint. When it comes to piecing this build together, I will have to go into more depth on the process of getting it prepped for the components, but for now, this shall do. So far, here is how the build looks:

Intel i5 3550 ($189.99)

Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) Memory Module ($42.49)

The NES Case, Hardware, and Paint (<$10)

Total Savings: $27.50 

Total Price: $242.48

Wednesday's installment of the build will be a brief overview of the drive storage I will be using within the NES PC, the 120GB SATAIII Patriot Pyro SSD.


Until then, Disc07 Out. 

Disc07's NES PC Build: Part 1.2b (The Memory)

Today we are taking a look at the memory of my upcoming system. When it comes to memory, pretty much any sticks will do. The motherboard I am planning on using supports up to 32 gigs of ram, but I decided to go with a quarter of that with an 8GB kit; anything more than that would almost be overkill with what I am planning on doing, so in my case, cheaper (and smaller) is better.

About a week ago Newegg was running a sweet deal for 15% off of all memory, so I splurged and got a name-brand set that I knew I could trust: Corsair. I decided on the Corsair Vengeance LP series of memory.

Corsair never ceases to amaze with their excellent packaging! No annoying blister packs here! 

Like many of the newer builds out there, these clock in with DDR3 1600MHz speeds with a latency of 9, and 9-9-9-24 timing. The voltage drawn from these is only 1.5 volts, so as per energy, these things wont be pulling much from the PSU. I chose to go with the LP series of ram simply because space is a hot commodity in my case; the giant "cocks-comb" style heat spreaders that come on the others within the Vengeance series were just to much, and in my honest opinion, only really visually appealing and wont have much to do with the actual heat produced from the memory modules. These do come equipped with heat spreaders, but they are not a ridiculous size like other series' or brands, hence the Low-Profile branding on the modules.

No annoyingly huge heatsink!! But still very stylish! 

So far this build is coming along very well; there is still no motherboard in my hands as of yet, but hopefully one will be here by next week, and we can get the ball rolling on some Diablo III action! Here is what it looks like so far:

Intel i5 3550 ($189.99)

Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) Memory Module ($42.49)

Total Savings: $27.50 

Total Price: $232.48

If you haven't noticed by now, space is going to be a HARD thing to come by in my build. There is a specific reason for this and hopefully all of my ideas will come to fruition in the end and the product will be spectacular! With this being said, next Monday's post will be about just that: The Case...


Until then, Disc07 Out.

Disc07's NES PC Build: Part 1.1b (The CPU)

Today's installment of my build will cover the heart of the system, the Intel Core i5 Processor. This piece of hardware has defined this generation's gaming processors. It is a perfect mix of speed and integrated graphics. The new i7 models have just been released, so there were plenty of deals going around for last year's i5 models. After reading through piles of reviews of the i5, I decided on going with what I found to be the cheapest model, the i5-3550 with an LGA 1155 socket. I could either grab this model from Newegg with the addition of a free t-shirt, or go with a cheaper price at $189.99 (with rebate) at Circuit City. I chose the latter in hopes that the $20 savings will help me along with the build in the long run.

Pretty pretty box! 

This processor is part of the new line of Quad-Core Ivy Bridge CPU's that have just been released along with the brand new i7 models. It boasts a 3.3GHz speed and a 3.7GHz Turboclocked speed only sucking 77watts of power form the PSU. Included is a fancy, almost "low-profile," heatsink with a 90mm fan. There has been some discussion of the amount of heat put out from this model, so I might have to take some extra precaution when it comes to organizing the airflow in my case, but hopefully all will work out in the end.

Just the stock 90mm fan and heatsink should do with my build. We'll see how it goes.

If I were playing anything less than Diablo III on this build, I would definitely vouch for going without an additional video card (eg: just playing emulators/roms/last gen games etc.), but just for kicks I will be covering all of my bases and getting a video card later down the line (as long as space is an option in my build). 

I would love to go and do some benchmarking on this CPU/GPU, but it is the first part of build that I have received, hence I have nothing to compare it to, or even to start the PC up with. Therefore, I will keep these articles nice and short until I do a full system diagnostic once all of the parts are in and together in the end. 

So far the build is as follows: 

• Intel i5 3550 ($189.99)

Heads up: Friday's installment will be featuring the memory used for the build, the Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB DDR3 Memory Kit. 

Until then, Disc07 Out. 

Welcome Back (Disc07's NES PC Build: Part 1.0b)

So here it is, the time for me to pick up where I left off as writer here on the blog. Some very big things have happened as of late, and I am overly sorry that the quantity of posts has taken a hit while I was away. In the meantime, Spieg89 has been busy at writing and we have been featured on the newest episode of the Assassionista Podcast entitled "All Kinds of Surprises and Craziness!" If you are not already a listener I suggest you head on over there and check these guys out! Anyways, that is enough for the news, now on to the bulk of the announcements:

With the release of Blizzard’s long-coming Diablo III today, I would like to begin a new “PC Building” segment to the blog. It has been about eight years since my last build (in the years of Pentium 4 processors, tube monitors, IDE ribbon cables, and believe it or not, a frequently used floppy disk drive); I have been itching ever since to start up another project. 

" Fool! You have just ensured the doom of this world...Now run! Take the stone and run! "

Over the next month, in a last minute ditch to build a strong enough gaming pc to effectively run the latest installment to the Diablo franchise, I will be posting where my current build is at along with previews and reviews of each piece of hardware that I will be incorporating into the build, finally culminating into a final review of the system, as well as Diablo III (albeit, much later than other sites).  This will work out to be a budget build, with my goal to be less than $600 total. Of course, the classic theme of the blog will be taken in to account with the build and hopefully the results will be more than spectacular (and most likely will not require that 3.5" floppy drive)!

Ick.. the only thing good I remember from you is Sim City...

The first installment of this new segment will kick off tomorrow, and should continue each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday thereafter until the build is finally finished. Once again, thanks for all of the support, and we hope that you enjoy what is to come in our future!

Cheers!

~~Disc07

Avengers Assemble!

It's here. The comic book event of the decade. The event that Marvel has been leading up to since Iron Man released in 2008. Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor teaming up to save the world. The Marvel hype machine has been in full gear and it has been really getting our hope up. And let me tell you. It doesn't disappoint.

So a quick recap. The Avengers are a team of super heroes. First seen in September 1963 as Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The team changes on a fairly regular basis. But Iron Man and Captain America are pretty consistently on the team. Another consistency is the fact that the pseudo- government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. (In the movie universe it stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division). The possibility of an Avengers movie was first mentioned in the after credits scene of Iron Man with Director Nick Fury (Head of S.H.I.E.L.D.) asking Iron Man to join the Avengers Initiative. Next we got the Incredible Hulk with General Ross chasing The Hulk all over the world. After that came Iron Man 2 with quick succession Thor and Captain America in the same year. All of these movies are clearly leading up to something. Something very big. That all culminates in this movie.

 

This movie centers on the tesseract from Captain America: The First Avenger, Loki from Thor, and an alien race known as Chitauri. Marvel fans may know the Chitauri as a common enemy for the Avengers in the comic books. The movie centers largely on the character relationships coupled with incredible and well directed fight sequences. The director for the film is the infamous Joss Whedon. Also to note is the fact that the special effects were done by Industrial Light & Magic as well as Peter Jackson's Weta Digital. One thing to note is that all of the heroes are portrayed by the same actor who played the character in their respective solo movies except for Hulk/Bruce Banner who was recast for this and for another 6 movies is Mark Ruffalo.

One of the best parts about the movie is the fights between the heroes themselves. The fight where Thor and Hulk are going at it in the flight hanger is particularly good.  The movie is being received well and in all honesty it might be one of the best movies I've ever had the privilege to watch. I did see it in 3D, but I don't feel like it really needed the 3D. It is also on IMAX. I am very interested to see where the Marvel movies go next. Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 and slated for release in 2013 but after that Marvel hasn't said yet. A sequel to The Avengers is possible but it hasn't been announced yet and it will be difficult to set up story-wise.

I can't recommend this movie enough. If you are at all interested in comic books you must see this movie. I would also recommend buying The Avengers official movie-tie in comic Avengers: Prelude. Available in collected form via Amazon.com or at your local comic book shop. I recommend it as it ties all the previous movies together and shows you how S.H.I.E.L.D was working behind the scenes the whole time.

So buy the book, watch the movie, tell EVERYONE you know how great it is. And then watch it again. 

And with that I will leave you with a trailer to get you hyped: 

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

Critical Path

Hello readers! Do you have an interest in video games journalism? Have you always wanted to write about video games but you don't know what it takes? Or do you just like reading in general?
Well then I have a book for you.

The book is entitled Critical Path: How to review games for a living. And it was written by a man who spent almost 15 years working as a games journalist. Dan Amrich worked for various different video game publications. I had the chance to send him a few questions via email. 

Spieg89:Tell me a little bit about your background in the games industry and what made you want to write this book?

Dan: I started reviewing games professionally in 1993, sort of as a side path from my music journalism career. That eventually blossomed in 15 years as both a freelancer and a staff member; I worked at GamePro for seven years in the late 90s and early 2000s, helped launch GamesRadar in the US in 2005, and transitioned to OXM for a three-year stint. Through all those jobs, I answered reader mail and was an admin in the web forums, and I kept seeing the same question from readers: "How do I get your job?" It seemed every reader wanted to be a writer; everybody thought it would be the coolest job in the world but had no idea how to actually, you know, get started on doing it as a career option. The answer to "how do I get your job" was not something I could easily answer in one email or even a series of them, so I decided to try to answer it completely in a book. I chipped away at the project in my free time over eight years, and revised it constantly as I learned new things or came into new situations that I thought would be worth discussion.

Spieg89: What are some of the key themes and ideas in the book?

Dan: I tried to cram the book with as much useful advice as I could, but one of the biggest points is realizing that it's not an easy job to get or even an easy job to execute even though the content is fun. There's a lot of hard work both in writing and getting noticed as a writer; you need more than just desire, you need discipline and drive. Other key things are how to improve your core writing skills, and then taking responsibility for what you write, because you will have to defend it to not only your editors, but your audience and the developers themselves. You will meet them face to face; they will remember your review. You need to be a professional about how you conduct yourself both on and off the page.


Spieg89: What are some of your projects outside of the games industry?

Dan: I taught myself to juggle in high school and quickly moved on to doing dangerous stuff for fun; fire is my specialty. But even when I juggle fire, I find it very relaxing. Also, I've been playing guitar and making music for years, and after a five-year stint singing in an 80s cover band, I am now making videogame parody songs with a friend under the name Palette-Swap Ninja; all our tracks are free downloads at paletteswapninja.com. Also, I'm a big Ghostbusters nerd so my wife and I built a full proton pack out of plywood some years ago; I am sometimes seen skulking around comic cons wearing that.
 
Spieg89: What are you doing now in the industry?

Dan: My current position is as Social Media Manager for Activision, which is really a fancy way of saying "blogger." I talk about Activision stuff on oneofswords.com, and chat with gamers on Twitter and Facebook. Basically, Activision saw what a good job Major Nelson was doing as the community guy for Xbox, and they said "Would you want to do that for us?" So after a few months of interviews and a lot of consideration, I joined Activision in January 2010 and they let me set up my own site. I decided to join up because they let me keep my editorial autonomy -- I am proud to say that nobody approves my tweets, blog posts, or podcast before I post. I am trusted to just sort of do my thing and get the information I would get if I were still a member of the media.


Alright so are you interested? Cause I am!


Dan's book is available on Amazon, Kindle, iBooks, Nook, Google's ebooks store, and directly from Dan's website: http://criticalpathbook.com/buy-it/


For more information please go to http://criticalpathbook.com/


Dan has also said he will be at PAX East next week wondering around on behalf of Activision and to help promote his book.


That is all. Carry On!


-Spieg89

City Under the Moon

Hello Gamers!
Sorry about the prolonged leave of absence, but relocating and settling across the country is a bit challenging and time consuming. But my personal life is not why we are here.
A fellow gamer of mine, Hugh Sterbakov is in the process of writing a novel that is shaping up to be great. For those of you who are die-hard Robot Chicken fans you may recognize Hugh. He bought most of the toys the show used, and was a writer most notably on two of the Star Wars specials. He is also the writer of the critically acclaimed comic book Freshmen. He is now finishing up his first novel City Under the Moon. 

 

The story is the a werewolf infection has struck New York city. And the story follows a few of the survivors. It has a very World War Z kind of vibe with werewolves instead of zombies. But don't take my word for it. Hugh has posted a brief preview that you can read for yourself: http://cityunderthemoon.com/sample/. Go check it out and read for yourself. 

Hugh is a good guy and he deserves your support. If nothing else you should read the preview and decide for yourselves. 

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89