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30. A Christmas Carol

29. Kung Fu Panda 2

28. Tarzan

27. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

26. A Bug's Life

25. Hercules

1997

Directors: Ron Clements & John Musker

Starring: Tate Donovan, Danny DeVito, & James Woods

Studio: Walt Disney

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

Awards: Oscar & Golden Globe for Best Song

So many memories of watching this movie back in my early days of childhood. Even after all those years, I still enjoy watching it for the timeless comedy and given my fascination with Greek mythology, I like seeing the historic gods and mortals in a more light-hearted tone. I'm not one for Disney animated musicals (all the singing usually feels out of place), but Hercules is one of the exceptions because it just fits naturally for whatever reason. As to what sets this movie apart, I would point to Danny DeVito's and James Woods' energetic voice performances.

Fun Fact: James Woods ad-libbed most of his lines as Hades. Before Woods' name was brought up for the role, Jack Nicholson and Willem Dafoe were in the running.

24. Fantasia/Fantasia 2000

1940/2000

Directors: Various

Starring: The music of The Philadelphia Orchestra/Chicago Symphony

Studio: Walt Disney

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%/82%

Awards: A combined two honorary Oscars and a Grammy for their soundtracks.

I know I'm cheating in two ways with this spot. I've combined two movies and neither of them are exactly movies, but a collection of animated shorts. But given how both Fantasia titles revolutionized animation and how to incorporate music into movie, I just had to find a spot for both on the list. The original Fantasia was very innovative and creative while still boasting some of the best musical scores to appear in theatres. As for Fantasia 2000, it lived up to its height and stands on its own two feet.

Fun Fact: Fantasia 2000, released on December 31, 1999 at midnight, was the very first movie of a new millennium.

23. Aladdin

1992

Directors: Ron Clements & John Musker

Starring: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, & Jonathan Freeman

Studio: Walt Disney

Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

Awards: 2 Academy Award wins with 3 more nominations and 3 Golden Globe wins with a Best Picture nomination.

One of the other musicals that I enjoy is Aladdin (which was from the same team that made Hercules five years later). I mean, who doesn't love Robin Williams' "Friend Like Me"?!? It's no mystery that Robin Williams is the highlight of this movie, which he voiced at the lowest wage possible due to it being part of his 'Hook' contract. Williams was also the very first famous actor to take his talents to voice overs in a major way. Other than Williams, I think that Jafar is one of the best Disney villains, if not the best. I also think that its message is very clear and well incorporated. Overall, you can tell that this movie was in the prime of Walt Disney animation.

Fun Fact: There's a fan theory that the merchant in the beginning of the movie is actually the Genie after he is freed by Aladdin.

22. Ice Age

2002

Directors: Chris Wedge & Carlos Saldanha

Starring: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, & Denis Leary

Studio: Blue Sky Studios

Rotten Tomatoes: 77%

Awards: Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature

Ice Age (the original, NOT the awful sequels) is comic gold and tells quite the adventure of an unlikely group. It's one of the funniest animated movies out there alongside the likes of Monsters, Inc. and Shrek. If the main story isn't enough for you, the clever Scat shorts are just perfect. Great voiceovers from a brilliant cast, outside-the-box writing, cool concept, and the dynamic between the trio of characters all combine to make Ice Age a special animated movie.

Fun Fact: Ice Age was originally planned to be a hand-drawn drama. But after the bomb that was Titan A.E., Fox wanted the movie to appeal to children.

21. The Iron Giant

1999

Director: Brad Bird

Starring: Vin Diesel, Jennifer Aniston, & Harry Connick, Jr.

Studio: Warner Bros. Animation

Rotten Tomatoes: 97%

Before Ratatouille and The Incredibles under the Pixar banner, Brad Bird was responsible for the most overlooked animated movie of all-time. The Iron Giant mixes comedy, emotion, and action with a backdrop of amazing animation. It also packs a strong, maybe controversial message behind it. Despite being a great movie, the movie flopped at the box office due to the lack of marketing from Warner Bros.

Fun Fact: Sean Connery and Darth Vader himself, James Earl Jones were both considered for The Iron Giant voice before the then-unknown Vin Diesel was cast.

--------------------------------------------

That's all for now, I plan to post Part III sometime during the weekend, so look out for that if you are interested in this blog series. I also plan to post a blog with some mini-reviews of Man of Steel, Fast Six, Mass Effect, and more very soon. I'm currently playing The Last of Us at a slow rate (I want it to last). How about that 'The Wolf of Wall Street' trailer!?! Looks great! Between that and The Great Gatsby, this could finally be Leo's year to win an Academy Award after being robbed so many times before. Thanks for reading and please comment

- Dylan

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[ Watch Video ]

E3 was great and exausting. Too tired to write up stuff, so here is a video thing about some info and stuff that maybe didn't make it onto the livestreams. Thanks for watching E3 folks - we had record numbers and amazing feedback all week. Really proud to be part of it. Also some questions:

Q: What was your your favourite game of E3?
Q: PS4 or XBOX ONE?

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Yes, I know, I hated AC3 too, a bit, but a 500GB PS3 for $230 is a good deal, right?  and shipping is free!  I need help...

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 Roxio game capture HD pro  With this can I make some perfect gaming episodes and want to train on my private youtube channel first till the 2014 for some actions what I can learn about and make some perfect video till I make the original youtube channel with the name Lucarita26's Gaming Shrine channel (LGS) with the youtube account username of Lucarita26. Then want to share all my gaming (gameplay) episodes from the first episode and want to start on the month January with the, I can have it on the month of this year at July and from then can I train my video recording for the voice acting to make it good episode and my training will going till the month January of the year 2014 and the want to make the youtube account username Lucarita26 with the channel name "Lucarita26's Gaming Shrine (LGS)" for making more original episodes and starts at Janaury 2014 with gaming marathon months still running then, so make the episodes and reports for some episodes on youtube and chapters here on gamespot website!

 Make chapters for the gaming month with some theme  Here is some update and started since this month June and you can read it on my weblog articles about the gaming archieves and the first one you can read it right now at the 2 parts of the gaming activity marathon of the month named "June: the month of the karting games" and you can read them all and the first part is all complete, so you can click on that article at the words "To be continued" the part two starts from tuesday with the "Mario kart wii" the third week. So please read them and follow them all, after read reading please comment on my weblog what you think about it and give me goodluck wishing for all my work dear gamers!

 Two different working locations on the web  I have decided to make me easier to work from now on and want t prapare for the next year, so if you can see that I have more works from more gaming news update and gaming reviews that all comes to the twitter and facebook page Gaming Galaxy NL (news group) for more writing reports for the gaming news update, gaming month marathon chapters and gaming reviews. On the youtube is only Vlog, gaming month marathon episodes and video reviews about the games that I want to tell on the greatest and quality video reviews about the games!

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Endure and Survive.

- Such is life in The Last of Us. You survive from moment to moment, encounter to encounter. I am playing on Hard at @katzenbalger 's suggestion and I think it's a good idea. Trying to figure out how to get through a flooded basement filled with infected and carrying only 7 shotgun shells and a brick is surely a challenge, especially when you need to start a loud-ass gas generator to get out of the area! But make no mistake: at least the infected don't shoot at you.

- What's left of humanity is, by far, more dangerous than the various degrees of the infected. The latter are predictable: Runners run, Stalkers wait, Clickers, well, click but are also relatively easy to sneak by. Hunters, on the other hand, patrol, investigate and, if you're spotted, flank your position. I was in one situation where I thought the floor below me was clear so when a Hunter seized me from behind while I engaged a bottleneck of enemies I nearly pooped my pants. Needless to say this action led to my hasty demise. And demise is certainly at hand in nearly every situation you encounter. Just remember: Feeling like Batman will get your silly ass killed in The Last of Us.

- The Last of Us already holds a distinction for me. There have been several games that have been tear-jerkers at the end but this game gets you right at the beginning. Despite a review to the contrary, I identified with Joel quickly and it's easy to see how he descended to what he became. I can see a parallel between this game and Red Dead Redemption; Ellie is clearly Joel's ticket to redemption. As for the girl herself she is spunky, clever, and instantly likeable. Thus far the supporting cast of characters have all been pretty likable (or despicable as the situation calls for) and I am especially pleased with Joel's Texas drawl; it gives him an air of realism in a genre dominated by a handful of recurring lead voice actors... least that's what I thought! I didn't recognize Troy Baker as the same voice of Red Faction's Alec Mason or Persona 4's Kanji Tatsumi. (That last one just makes me like him more!) The accent is subtle but real; probably because Baker is from Texas. At any rate Joel comes off as a geniune character, a man who has had some bad sh*t happen to him and whose dreams of the future end with tomorrow morning.

- A LOT of praise has been heaped on Ashley Johnson's portrayal of 14 year old Ellie, and for good reason. Despite the fact that she has never voiced a 'serious' video game character before the 29 year old actress nailed Ellie; breathing life into the character such as to make her strong yet vulnerable, likeable yet fiery... she's a realistic blend of an all-to-mature teenage girl trying to be both brave and, at the same time, just be a girl who is full of wonder and curiosity at the world she never knew; almost like an orphan yearning to know about the parents who died before she had a chance to know them. I found it particularly touching how Joel tries to shield her from the corruption around her yet, before long, must accede to the fact that she has to learn how to protect herself... and him as well.

- A lot has also been said about the brutal level of violence in this game. Is it visceral? Yes. It's it vulgar? Not really. Is it necessary? Absolutely. We live in a post-Mortal Kombat age; accustomed to violence-as-comedy. Is this level of violence funny? Not at all, but it actually shies away from what I was expecting. (Although there was a scene with a morbidly facinating arterial spray.) It is definately the most violent sounding game I think I've played. Sound design is excellent and every brick you smash into an enemy's face just sounds like hurt, but I guess I was expecting a horror-of-war type of experience with guts blown out with every shotgun blast. You'll be spared that, but otherwise The Last of Us pulls no punches. Most of all no regenerating health here. Every drop of alcohol, every scrap of bandage is all very precious... like Gollum precious, because you need it for creating health kits. You need it MORE for health kits than for infected-destroying molotovs, despite how effective those really are.

- Admittedly the AI of your companions can get a little ridiculous. They are effectively invisible to the enemy, which can be immersion-breaking. They can also act as roadblocks if you decide you're not quite done with the area and turn around to investigate more, but they do try to get out of your way. I haven't noticed any clipping, such as others have mentioned, but I will offer a warning: while you can save at any time I recommend you do it after you clear an area. On several occasions I have been bum-rushed immediately after loading a game if I stopped in mid-combat. True to Naughty Dog's word Ellie will never be a concern in an encounter, but that's also a little disappointing. It kind of takes you out of your role as her protector because you literally never have to worry about her or any of your other companions. The encounter I mentioned at the beginning of this piece; my companions we never in any danger. I could have taken my time and used stealth to kill all three hunters but, for me, that is immersion breaking. I prefer, instead, to still act as though they are in my care. It means waiting for all of my companions to get up a ladder before me while waiting nervously in a zombie-filled room when I could just scoot to safety myself and not give them a second thought. It means me taking huge risks when a Hunter gets too close to Ellie instead of slipping quietly away and conserving ammo. Such moments are less immersion-destroying than if I just worry about Joel. I respect what ND was trying to do but, honestly, I would prefer a little more concern for the 14 year old girl I'm supposed to be protecting.

- Overall believe the hype. The Last of Us is not only a powerful and moving experience, it is clearly Game of the Generation material. While Bioshock Infinite may take local GOTY awards due to its multi-platform nature, The Last of Us deserves to win the crown. Naughty Dog has created a beautiful swan song for the 7th generation and you'd be remiss to let it pass you by. Beg, borrow, steal, or just work your ass off to get a PS3... this is one of those ICO-like games that people will be talking about for many years to come.

The Last of Us - 9.5

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Game Reviews:

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

L.A. Noire

Grand Theft Auto IV

Movie and TV Reviews:

Bad Santa

Superman: The Animated Series

The Dictator

Notable Articles, Opinion Pieces, and Satire:

LGA's Top 10 PS3 Exclusives

Grand Theft Auto: Drug Dealers' and Rappers' Delight

LEGO Batman 2: First Impression

Top Ten Greatest Damn Video Games of All-Time

Call of Duty: A Tumor on the Face of Gaming

Xbox One vs. Playstation 4

I hope you guys enjoy 'em, and be sure to leave a comment, either here, or on their respective pages. For now, rigbybot127, signing off.

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Assassin's Creed 3

http://www.gamespot.com/assassins-creed-iii/user-reviews/811091/platform/xbox360/

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/user-reviews/811234/platform/ps3/

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

http://www.gamespot.com/transformers-fall-of-cybertron/user-reviews/811396/platform/xbox360/

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

http://www.gamespot.com/battlefield-bad-company-2/user-reviews/811537/platform/xbox360/

Walking Dead: Season 1

http://www.gamespot.com/the-walking-dead-a-telltale-games-series/user-reviews/812233/platform/ps3/

Medal of Honor

http://www.gamespot.com/medal-of-honor/user-reviews/812268/platform/xbox360/

Journey

http://www.gamespot.com/journey/user-reviews/812291/platform/ps3/

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Firstly my own reaction to the news in it's uncut unedited form http://youtu.be/lGiMoojE8V4

So I'm sitting at my PC desk I have Gamespot's live coverage of the Microsoft conference streaming not much is exciting me. Suddenly the screen glows a green hue and the letters KI are formed this is when I knew Killer Instinct was set to return. We were treated to a short 30 second trailer however just seeing those letters was enough to send me into a crazy frenzy screaming It can't be true the neighbors must think I'm a lunatic by now. I cared little surrounding their opinions of me however as the game I've waited nearly 20 years for is finally getting it's well deserved release.....on the Xbox One

My initial excitement slowly turned to dread as I realized the game was an exclusive on MS's new console. My thoughts turned to money, was I seriously going to spend more than  500 (console, game plus another controller) to enjoy an experience 20 years in the making? Damn right you are, says my inner 14 year old self, you gotta be joking says my 30 year old hardcore gamer pychy. To make matters incredibly worse the more I saw of the game the more I wanted to get my hands on it. Every new KI related video made me hunger more for it, and unquenchable thirst that simply would not be ignored.

Delving deeper into the core mechanics the developers Double Helix are really pushing to make it tournament worthy and casually appealing. Punishing turtle like play and balancing out the combo breaker system is pleasing to the ears of the hardcore tournament player. However alternate colors and costumes plus a comprehensive 1 player experience promise joys to the casual onlooker. The game certainly looks the par too with fully destructible stages fats flowing combat all in beautiful 1080p 60 fps.

At the moment I am in two minds as to what I should do, I love KI and the new game looks amazing however can I really spend that amount of money for one game? What would you guys do given the circumstances?

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Anywho, moving on.

Today, the world is playing this game.

EDIT: It's been pointed out to me that these creatures in the game are not zombies, but living breathing infected. They are zombie-like in nature, so that explains the confusion.  To avoid me having to replace every zombie with infected, from this point on just read zombie as infected.  If anything else is contextually out of place, chalk it up to late night proofreading.

I would be included in that group.  I went to Best Buy today to pick it up, and I've spent a good four or so  hours on it. I will say, as an experience, the game's phenomenal.  Its sense of atmosphere and tension is quite immerserve. I love the graphics and the way the characters are portrayed. And the surprises?  Emotional. Loving the story. 

But.. the gameplay fails to win me over.

It's not a very good stealth game

I remember Tom catching some flak for this in his review of the game, but he's right. The rediculous enemy AI really disrupts the immersion. Enemies have poor eye sight, even the humans, not being able to spot you at the other end of the hall. You're obviously jutting out from a corner, right next to them while they're looking your way, and they still don't see you. Your partners will run right in front of enemies at times, and won't set off their alarms. 

The biggest issue I have with the stealth is the Clickers.  These mutated zombies are supposed to have highly tuned senses of hearing, and the game even tells you they can hear you when you're crouched.  Yet, I can creep right by them moving at full crouching speed and they just keep hobbling about. My AI partners fumble into them; we vault obstacles; I can take a zombie out right next to a Clicker, and its none the wiser.  If I can "hear" them through walls, they should be able to hear us talking to each other from three feet away.  It's just flatout dumb. 

It's not a very good action-adventure game

Now, this is obviously subjective, because some people really enjoy the action; I don't.  I think the shooting's terrible.  Granted, I might suck at it, but I find it not very fun at all to even try to use my guns when the ammo is so scarce, even by survival horror standards.  Plus, the melee isn't the best, and sometimes you can't even escape from getting jumped even when you're prompted to.  

I know this isn't Uncharted, but the the Uncharted comparisions will inevitably be made. Naughty Dog's previous three titles have been Uncharteds, and the way The Last of Us is presented storywise exhibits a bit of an Uncharted vibe, just with a post-apocalyptic theme instead of a treasure hunting one. So, instead of climbing majestic mountains and scaling ancient architecture, I slink through dirty alleyways, muck about in sewers and crawl through dilapidated buildings, all without any climbing (there's the normal hoisting one's self over a ledge, but that's it). This makes the downtime between each action scene less interesting, at least to me. 

It's not a very good zombie/survival horror game

I say this because it really isn't as scary as it should be. I jumped in a couple places, but it was one of those "BOO!" type scares. The zombie designs are very typical, and the Clicker designs are a joke. It's like someone had a bad intern exam of making a Headcrab mask, and put it over a zombie's head. They also wander around sometimes like they were comical versions of themselves, more drunk then they are infected, not to mention the guards that can't make up their minds which way they want to investigate something. Also, there are some freshly turned zombies that just stand in one place, crying, with their head in their hands.  When I first saw this, I thought, "OOOOH!  THE WITCH!" from Left for Dead. Walked right up to it killed it with no problem. 

Don't get me wrong, though, the game's definitely worth playing, and any PS3 owner should add it to their library. I'm just not one of the many people going, "OOH PERFECT GAME! 10" like the rest of the Internet.  The presentation is just outstanding, clearly a product of the Naughty Dog pedigree. The gameplay itself, however, falls short of perfect. Again, I find myself agreeing with Tom McShea.  Poor guy, gets so much hate and outrage aimed towards him when really... he's just voicing an honest opinion that happens to be in the minority.

Now if I can, I just want to talk about AAA games being overhyped. In my mind, this is one of them. It seems that the majority of the gaming populace is too easily wowed with high production values.  All it takes is amazing graphics, full of set pieces and explosions - or in The Last of Us's case, zombies - and halfway decent gameplay to become a stellar game. Too often, they're blown away by the cutscenes and the world and the characters that they don't spend enough time focusing on the game's weaker points. It seems GameSpot's harsher scoring criteria should be adopted by more people, I'm not saying low ball games to just low ball them (and really Tom's score of an 8 is far from low balling), but I'm saying that 9s and 10s shouldn't be handed out to AAA games just for showing up.. 

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    I will be checking for more articles to confirm this as a truth and not just a rumor, so I am hoping for the best. I will probably not read the comments because of System Wars so Good night

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I agree with the notion that games should be something that gamers want to go back and experience again over time. I also think that Nintendo has had a difficult time with this idea post SNES. With Nintendo the problem is that post SNES era they've done very little to step away from their comfort zone most of the time with first party titles. You get some occasional stand outs on consoles after that: Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and others that tried to really do something different but they're still mired in the same old basic formula and rehash the same IPs over and over. Technologically Nintendo has changed but the games still lean too hard on retreading the same ground. Mario is saving Peach from Bowser yet again, Link is still saving Zelda and the tri-force, Samus still loses all her abilities in the first 15 minutes. And when they do try new things they often turn out to be superficial or mechanics that fundementally alter a series in ways that are more frustrating than fun.

For example: Do we really need another Mario Kart? Yes plenty of people will buy it but is it really different from the previous Mario Kart? The previous 7 Mario Karts? Cosmetically sure. A few new mechanics of course. But its still very much the same basic game as the original. Theres not really an evolution if you say Mario has a raccoon tail now so he can fly but the end result is still "Our princess is in another castle." You did some tweaks to the formula, added some often fun new mechanical differences but didn't fundamentally change anything. There is no real growth happening.

Where's the game where Mario gets captured and you have to play as Peach to rescue him? Or how about no one gets captured and we do something different for a change? Nintendo needs to turn things on their head now and again. Mix it up. Retain the focus of what made these IPs so liked to begin with and ultimately make them fun but don't just keep churning out the same old song and dance with a new coat of paint.

With no change fanboys will keep eating it up of course because they're fanboys. 8 year olds will eat it up because they're kids and they weren't around when the original Super Mario Bros. came out. But what about those of us that have been consumers of their products since before they even made consoles? We know these stories. We know these characters. We've seen what they can do from the time that Mario's girlfriend was named Pauline. Porting old games to the new systems or slapping an HD polish on SNES style games and bringing them to the Wii U and 3DS will work for nostalgia for a while for some but its not going to really do anything new or exciting for your company. There's not really any other incentive for old school gamers to pick these up.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2. Yeah looks pretty much like more of the same game that I played back in the day on my SNES. Fine for a little nostalgia without a complete retread but what's stopping me from just pulling out my SNES and playing the original? Nothing. So why wouldn't I just do that instead if I want to play A Link to the Past again? I'd save myself $40 and get more or less the same experience.

I like to reference this fan made video A Fistful of Rupees http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UunpCv7kKHw&list=PL9AB56A1E36D227C8 often when discussing this topic because it shows how you can take the same properties, retain the ideas that keep them recognizable and familiar, but honestly do something different with the idea. Why does Nintendo never seem to be creative in this way any more? They've certainly got talented people on staff, lots of them. But even 30 years into some of these IPs they're still holding on to that same core story and mechanics.

Maybe a little of what made Square Enix Final Fantasy franchise so great needs to find its way into Nintendo's development philosophy. You take the parts that makes the series great and recognizable and fun but you don't just keep making the same game over and over. Now again I'll note that occasionally Nintendo will surprise me here and pull this off with a Super Mario Galaxy (even though it still really only changed the mechanics) or something similar but for the most part post SNES era they seem a little stagnant on the new ideas front outside of fitting their games to their newer console tech.

I don't think I'm asking too much of Nintendo to want them to broaden their wheel house a bit. I want to care about them again as a company. I want to see them do something new and exciting that gets gamers old and new amped for their product. I want to have their console be more than a Netflix viewer. I want to see them design a console that focuses on playing games rather than designing games around their latest gimmick. They really need to make those first party titles not just well made and polished but also something that can recapture our excitement for the long haul so 20 years from now we want to play them again.

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