PS3 Speeds

There is something really wrong with the PS3 download system. Took me more than 12 hours to get the Killzone 2 demo. Took 45 minutes for an update on Warhawk and now several hours waiting for Flower. It's not my connection. It's solid. My 360 is quick. It's Sony. Enough with the constant updates. Fix your infrastructure. Get your speeds up and stop making me redownload the entire OS so you can add photo albums. Seriously? Photo albums? I want to play games, not look at my pics.

This shit moves like molasses. No wonder they added the shut down after download complete function. It's so you can go to bed and not leave the damn machine on one minute longer than necessary.

Fable 2 Afterthoughts

I never beat the first Fable. Played it. Didn't get far. Beat the hell out of Fable 2. Watched the credits and then kept playing. Bought the ten dollar DLC even. Yet, I don't love the game. Like it a lot. Feel frustrated by a lot. Even hate some. Think it's a good game, but one with problems. It's a game that makes me want to power my way through it. I'm driven when playing it. I follow that bread crumb trail until the quest is done and I barely veer off course. I like that it's an easy RPG, something more like Zelda than Final Fantasy, but man is that combat a bit too button mashy. It's like Dynasty Warriors with levels. And so very British, the spelling, the humor. It's not the revelation Molyneux would want. And while I liked the dog a lot I didn't really want to spend my time having babies and wooing people. I wanted to fight and that's what I did. It's not the deep game it wants to be. It's just fun.

More Downloadable Games Plz

I'm looking at my 360's dashboard. It's after ten at night. I want a new game. Everything on XBL is short. All arcade stuff. Puzzle games. Tiny platformers. Community game with bad art. All fine. All worthy (maybe). But none is what I want. What I want is a full on retail game that I can simply click on. It's late and I'm lazy. I don't want to go to the store and purchase a game. I want to turn my system on and buy a full experience. Where's a downloadable Gears? Hell, where's Burnout Paradise? When I look at my PSN choices, I can see Wipeout HD, Ratchet and Clank, Warhawk...all substantial games and all worthwhile purchases. Where's the 360 game that matches these choices? Xbox originals are big, but I have those. Microsoft needs to get on the ball and start doing the Steam download thing on their system. Full, meaty games for slightly less than boxed copy prices. I want it. Others want it. But after the failure that was GFW, does anyone really think MS knows anything about digital distribution in anything but arcade titles? I love XBL, I just want this one option in there. I'm sure it's coming, but when? That's the one thing PSN has on XBL. Now, my lazy ass has to play an old game and resist my urge to impulse buy. Oh, wait....iTunes games......

Some Thoughts on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I heard a lot of “meh” about Benjamin Button before I watched it. Many called it “Forrest Gump 2.” I cvould certainly see the similarities, but that‘s like complaining that two action movies from the same guy have car chases. This thing with Gump and Button is merely Eric Roth’s thing. And I liked Button better. It didn’t blow me away nor did it put me to sleep. It was an interesting movie, a long story about two people who CAN NOT grow old together. Because one of them is growing younger. Technically, the movie is a fucking marvel. Fincher’s direction is excellent. It’s a beautiful movie. All that is well deserved praise you’ve read elsewhere. I’ve heard the Slashfilm guys say that the aging gimmick comes across as more of a handicap, much like Gump’s leg braces or his low mental ability, and not as an old man growing younger. But I like that. Button is not born an old man, he’s born with a body that ages in reverse. He doesn’t pop out 90 years old because he has no life experience yet. The aging thing is entirely physical. Inside, he’s a kid before he’s a man and then instead of hitting old age, he hits puberty and adolescence and all that. It’s certainly interesting as he goes from a baby with old age afflictions to a perfectly healthy baby at the end of his life. I’m sure people wanted more sci-fi out of this premise and it is interesting to think of how this would really play. And the film does skirt the childhood weirdness by putting him in an old folks home right away. Button truly does live a life that is backwards in many ways, but also normal in many ways, because inside he’s not old. Perhaps my favorite line in the film is when he’s 7 and goes to a faith healer. He’s asked how old he is and responds, “Seven, but I look a lot older.” And that’s what it’s about. Maybe the scariest aspect of the film to me, is that growing young is far, far scarier than growing old. You don’t know what to expect. Sure, there are similarities, but we take comfort in growing old. We know when to expect. We grow old with each other, but Button’s curse of being younger while we get older is terrifying. And that’s what the movie is really about. It may not say things perfectly, but it’s not about a grown man popping out of a woman, it’s about how growing old is how it’s supposed to be. We’re not meant to stay young forever. Or get younger.