The Americans have ComicCon, and we Canadians have FanExpo, our biggest convention for all things comics, sci-fi, and gaming. Where the stars come to meet their fans, the latest news of upcoming sci-fi events unfolds, and the geeks congregate. And this blog has more emphasis on the geeks themselves, namely those oh so hot cosplayers that bring the fantasies of our favorite comic and gaming vixens to life.
.
But before I show you those pics, I thought I'd start with something else. The Grail of Geekdom, TRON!!!!!! Oh yes, I am of the generation that saw this movie when it originally graced theatres in 1982. It was a work of true visionary imagination and the movie that was at the forefront of two frontiers; CGI animation in cinema, and exploring the impact computers would have on our lives. Who knew 27 years ago how much the silicon revolution would shape the landscape of social interaction, media distribution, and even art and culture?
.
I don't think I can fully convey just how excited I am that at long last, a true sequel is on its way. And with the tremendous advancements made in the technology the first movie heralded, what was shown at the presentation shows how far Tron has come with an even more breath taking showcase. If you haven't seen the TRAILER yet on the Apple site, go check it out now, in 1080 if you can. Aside from that, there was a slideshow shown of the artist concept renders with how many of the familiar settings of the digital world are even more awe inspiring than ever before. But even better than the images presented, was that the convention had an actual full scale model of the new Light Cycle on display. I don't think my photos can fully do justice to this marvel of vehicle design and architecture when seeing it in person. But here it is;
.

.

.

.

.

.
.
And now, without further ado, feast your eyes on the savory HOTTNESS of the cosplayers! (first isn't so much "hot" but a damn good Link, even though played by a girl)
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I've been a poster at the Tomb Raider forums for a while. Recently a thread was made discussing the possibility that the next Tomb Raider game will be M rated. As you might expect, this caused quite a stir, with the big fear that Lara will be shown nude in the games, though nobody seemed to have any objections to more explicit violence. But while I was composing my post on the subject, it became more than just about Tomb raider, and as much an exploration of the handling of the M rating of games in more general concepts.

So I thought it was worth sharing here as well. Like I said, much of what I say here is directed to Lara, and the Lara fan base, but almost all of it could be applied to almost any M rated game, as well as the sexuality of female video game characters, where the principle is almost universal. And now on to the topic at hand;

===================

VIOLENCE

The general consensus that seems to be found on these boards is a more realistic presentation of violence is favorable. And I don't think what we as gamers or fans of Tomb Raider are gearing towards is an excess of blood and gore. Certainly not to the extent of Gears of War, God of War, Saw, or a Rob Zombie movie.

What is really desired, pushing towards realism, is the sense of genuine consequence to the actions taking place in the game. We want to feel that when Lara finds herself in a firefight with mercenaries or a savage struggle with the local wildlife, that there is a palpable sense of danger. She should suffer certain injuries and likewise, her enemies must approach her with trepidation, especially when they are aware of her reputation as a force to be reckoned with.

SEXUALITY

Now please note that what I said here is sexuality, not sex. This has nothing to do with turning the franchise into a blatant porn series. But like it or not (as I am aware some of you out there plainly don't like it) Lara... HAS... sex appeal. And quite frankly I can't see why this should be a problem.

The biggest issue I have with the objections to a sexual portrayal of Lara is the perpetration of downright MYTHS. Can we please please PLEASE get past the ludicrous notion that Lara being sexy somehow undermines her being a strong, confident, powerful, graceful, cIassy, cultured, and intelligent woman?

I mean who said a woman couldn't be sexy AND intelligent at the same time? Can't express naughty humor AND witty repartee at the same time? Can't show confidence in her looks AND be cultured at the same time? For all you saying "she's not a porn star, she should be portrayed in only a cIassy way", I rebuke with this; It's true that if she was shown only as a sex symbol it would be a tragic disservice to her and her fans. But I would go so far as to say that her being only a dedicated archaeologist would be just as much a disservice. I want to see a fully dimensional human being, and to me its far more interesting to see complex personality traits that show realistic behaviors than "just the action heroin", which by itself would be flat and dull. To put it simply, why limit how Lara is defined? Someone who is realistically multi faceted is far more interesting and offers much more to amire.

Now there was a note here that "Lara is sexy because she's not trying to be". And this is correct as well. Yet we see her very often in outfits that accentuate her exquisite physique. That would almost seem like she is showing off, but here's why that's not the case. Lara has that aristocratic upbringing and if I understand that culture, women are more often "prim and proper" as the expression goes. But part of Lara's psychology, is that she lives by her own rules and doesn't bend to convention. So when she's going out there looking like she's posing for a fitness babe calendar, it's not motivated by any fulfillment of ego or vanity. It's because she doesn't care to follow the "rules" of what it is to be a lady, and sure as hell doesn't give a damn what others in her society think. She's just doing what she wants to do, with no thought of seeking approval for her looks. And yes, that is sexy as hell. What is also very appealing to me is the range Lara has when it comes to sexiness. She very successfully pulls of beach beauty hotness, athletic hotness, and even elegant and refined hotness. She is diverse and how can that not be seen as enticing on so many levels?

On the related subject of nudity, I feel it IS justified where the context deems it appropriate. I know some of you will vehemently disagree with that, and that it never has a place anywhere. But those are my thoughts. To take a page from the DOA series, what I find very sexy about that is that while it does show provocative imagery, yet never makes use of full frontal nudity. Instead, they take the more creative approach, employing a combination of controlled camera angles and environmental and other props to obscure the full view of the female so you can't see it all even when she's undressed. And I do fully support that this approach has artistic merit.

Of course the question is, would any situation Lara finds herself in entail a circumstance that she'd lose her clothing? Probably not. As stated before, she shouldn't be combating tigers and mercenaries in her bikini. But I suppose you might have those down time moments after or in between an exploratiodan, when she emerges from the shower (was seen in an earlier Core game), or she could be lounging by her pool when some agent approaches her for an assignment offer. Maybe even during an exploration, she sees a lagoon with waterfall, and decides to clean up a bit and refresh herself after getting very sweaty and grimy (again employing the DOA approach to the cinematic), where it would be a reasonable action to take. I mean who honestly enjoys feeling grimy?

So to summarize the sexuality and nudity issue; if we really want it to be handled in a mature manner, gamers need to get past this erroneous notion that the female body and the sexuality aspect of psychology is a "dirty and shameful" thing. It shouldn't be seen as a crime. And remember that point I made of violence? Why do some people want that to be given a respectful treatment with authenticity, but when it comes to human behavior, sex is suddenly not part of the equation of what makes a person realistic? It seems realism is constrained by limiting mores, and it really shouldn't be.

CONTEXT

The final aspect of mature content I wanted to tackle is, well content itself. The very substance of the story, the handling of subject matter in both a realistic and thoughtful manner, and mainly being able to explore controversial and provocative issues. And considering what Lara does for a living, the stories are rife with potential here. I mean she's gotta be pissing off a lot of locals, trespassing into territory that is a sacred part of their cultural history. Or just the heated debates she could get into, trying to expose the "truth" (taken from the story context the writers choose to create for various mythologies) that clashes with peoples deeply held beliefs to the nature of deities and relics. A conflict of knowledge vs faith could provide such rich drama. Though really, I'm just spit balling here, lol.

Then there's the use of language. There was that poll option which never made it in, Lara suddenly dropping the f-bomb left right and center. But we all know she wouldn't adopt that language usage, she far too much a lady for that. But what about the other characters she encounters? She often has to deal with all manner of unseemly people to get leads for what she's looking for. Or how about the mercs she combats in the jungles? Now we would never like to hear this about our beloved heroin - yet is it realistic to expect that they, hired guns not exactly known for refinement, to hold her in the same regard we do? Especially when she is shooting at them? Would it be unrealistic to expect that in the heat of a firefight, they would be screaming the f-bomb at her, not to mention calling her all manner of unsavory descriptions... I'm sure you can fill in the blanks there. Again, we're talking about a ruthless lot, who has no reason to be polite.

For as long as I've had my Xbox 360 console, for a little over 2 years, I've been gaming on just a standard def TV. Mind you it's a 32" Toshiba flat screen with standard component inputs which the 360's component HD cables work with, so I didn't feel I have much to complain about. I mean I could still see substantial difference over the old Xbox1 visuals; the higher poly-count, better rendered textures, advanced lighting, pixel shaders, more expansive environments, numerous on screen characters... all that was as evident on SD as it would be on HD.

I never got to see that crispness and fidelity that 1080 or even 720 lines of resolution offered, and I didn't know anybody with an HDTV and a modern gamig console. Of course here on Gamespot, I can't go a day without hearing about how HD gaming is the greatest thing since sliced bread, hell from what people said, it reivented the way bread is sliced. Of course all this banter had me curious for the longest time what it would be like to experience that first hand.

My main problem with making the transition was PRICE. I would say an HDTV to be of a respectable size, say 27" at the very least (I couldn't even dare look at the price tags of those 50" monsters, lol), along with at least 8000:1 contrast ratio and 5ms response, still costs too much for me today, never even mind what they cost 2 years ago. I am not the kind of guy that can just throw $600 or more on a TV (speaking in Canadian prices). The 32" TV I have now I didn't spend the $500 on yself, it was a family birthday gift to me 2 years ago. So I pretty much accepted that an HDTV would be out of reach for me this entire generation. Maybe when the Xbox 720 came out or about a year afterwards, it would be viable for me. And here I am with a 360 with an HDMI port and the cable already packed in the box, but no HDTV to make use of that. But like I said, curiosity aside, with my large flat screen component, I guess what qualifies as EDTV, I wasn't complaining.

But then there was a subject that kept popping up in threads discussing making the move to HD displays. People who advocated that there really is no excuse since most people online already have access to one. "Just connect your 360 to the LCD you use with your PC, the technology is the same in those larger HDTV's". But even that raised concerns with me, namely, why would I want to downsize my screen area from 32" to a measly 17"? Surely a bigger viewable area is far better for gaming. Did the difference in doubling the lines of resolution really make up for the downsizing of the screen?

Again curiosity tugged at me. I knew there were more dots in my 17" than in my 32" TV. I had to admit, I was considering investigating that avenue, since my monitor was already there. Why not give it a shot, and if I don't think it's that much better, I can always go back to my TV. But when I looked at the cost of picking up the 360's VGA cable, plus a KVM switch so I could share my LCD between my PC and gaming console, I decided it wasn't worth it. Not only that, my 17" LCD is of the old 4:3 aspect ratio, not the 16:9 widescreen, so no telling how the HD display settings would even work on that. Again I just decided I'll keep to SD hook up for my 360.

--

Now that brings us to 2 days ago. When I was seeing some online ads at the CanadaComputers web site, I was browsing monitors, because I wanted something bigger for my Photoshop productivity. And I'm seeing a lot of these newer monitors have an HDMI port. hmmmm... could this mean? Why yes, yes I think it'll work. I could use the VGA connection for the PC, and the HDMI for the 360. No need for extra cables or switcher boxes. Just a press of the input button on the monitor and, voila!!

And then I saw the sweetest deal among the inventory. A 21.5" widescreen Benq. 10,000:1 contrast ratio with 5ms response time. And the best part, the very best part? Where other monitors of this size category were designed for 1680x1050, this model actually supported 1920x1080, a resolution usually only found in the more expensive 24" LCDs. It was basically advertised as supporting 1080p display. Oh and all this for the amazing price of $219 CDN, which at the time of my weekend pickup, was being offered for an in store deal of $205. This was just too good to be true! For $205, a price now in my range, I could not only enter the HD arena of gaming, but the very same device enhanced my PC desktop experience and productivity, which just doubled the value of that $205. Much sooner than I expected, the HD solution found its way to me, and killing two birds with one stone.

I am just loving the cleaness and clarity of the pictures I'm seeing. And not only that, and I'm not sure it's related to the resolution jump, but it seems as I was playing Halo 3 and GeoW 2, the control responsive has gotten a boost. I mean I'm playing with the same 360 controller, but the aiming just seems to be tighter, reticle movements more concise, and more responsive when I swing or just try to nudge the reticle, and I can really zero in on those head shots through the scope, even when I was getting a clear view on my 32" SDTV. I can really say, it's nice to be in the club now.

And sweet Lara, what this has done to my Photoshop experience is UNBELIEVABLE Anybody with experience with the app who knows how it can be a tricky proposition balancing all those pallette windows. Having to dock a few tabs together, needing to make the switch from one to the other as you're working, while not crippling by any means, sure makes the task of optimizing for the available space in 1280x1024 a constant chore. But now with the widescreen, I have so much space, I have my palletes arranaged in two columns, my layers, channels, history, text editor, color swatches, and more, always visible on the screen. And even with all that I can display a hi-res artwork (8x10, 200-250 dpi) with more of it visible at higher view scale (50% nominally), and see all the small text and images with great detail without having to zoom out too much. It. is. such. a BEAUTIFUL thing, I'm in heaven

Hey everybody, not sure what else to open this blog with. Funny thing is, I'm really not that practiced with poetry, though I have read my share. But somehow I was struck with sudden inspiration. Just a vague idea at first which I just took to sculpting into what I present to you now. The title is "Primal Rebirth", and without further ado...

So you been wondering what my teaser from the last blog was all about? What is the greatest SW poll that could ever be done? 2008 GOTY? No, bigger than that. Best game of the generation? Nooo, bigger than THAT.

This is nothing less than the Greatest Game of All Time!!!! Any game, from any gen, from any year, is a contender for this title. Go check it out and vote!!!

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26733143&tag=topics;title

System Wars has been the battle grounds for many heated debates. Graphics superiority. System power. Developer prestige. But all of that pales in comparison to what will catapult System Wars into the most chaotic struggle in history. All fans will rally behind their banner, and the battle cries will echo throughout the internet.

January 2009. The Epic battle for supremacy begins.

It's been 13 years since the most controversially provocative female protagonist entered the game scene on the PS1, capturing the hearts of many a wide eyed gamer. And now she makes her 1st true next gen debut in Underworld. Although Legend had already come out on Xbox 360 (but in the systems first year, and also Xbox and PS2) , this is the game that really takes advantage of this current generation of hardware (both in 360 and PS3).

And let me say right here and now, speaking as someone who's played the first series from the first back in 1995 (although I missed Angel of Darkness on PS2) to Legend, this latest instalment is without contest, THE best game ever made of the adventures of Lara Croft. I mean it. No game before compares to this.

---

Visuals

This of course is the most obvious upgrade to the game. The outdoor landscapes are just gorgeous vistas, with lush foliage that bends and folds as Lara pushes her way through it. The temples and ruins seen from the outside are picturesque, conveying a hint of mystery of what lies beneath their serene surface, with the interiors being richly detailed, and all of this being greatly enhanced by the new lighting engine CD has incorporated. Much of the scenery will give you cause for breathless admiration and wonder, a testament to beautifully executed art direction. The wildlife that is also a staple of the franchise is also more vivid and truly a beauty of nature. The tigers have really come to life with fluid animation giving them beautiful ferocity.

Naturally, mention has to be given to the graphical upgrade Lara herself has received with this next gen overhaul. She has never looked better. And I'm not just talking about her hotness, which there is no denying is as present as ever, in her athletic physique, piercing eyes, long toned legs, her confident swagger, and those full round… errr… ahhh… sorry, got side tracked So ahem ahem… as I was saying. This is the best looking Lara Croft, not just in the "babe" sense of the word, but also in that this is the most realistic rendition of the iconic character. This is a more naturalistic human looking person. Yes, she's still well endowed but much more realistically well endowed, with the accurate proportions of what real women with large breasts actually look like. In fact when you compare this model to the original from 1995 (even going by the CGI render), that one takes on a more caricature appearance of "the hot babe" ideal where all the features are exaggerated.

More than ever, the art direction gives the illusion (and hope) that Lara Croft could be a real person. And it's this more natural and human approach to her appearance that really enhances the beauty and appeal of the leading lady. The look of Lara is further augmented by the motion capture incorporated into the animations (a first for the series) that really breath's life into the character, especially in the cut scenes.

---

Gameplay

It goes without saying that the platforming is as enjoyable as ever. Carrying the tradition of environmental puzzle solving that Tomb Raider began, you'll experience the challenge of figuring out which of Lara's many acrobatic skills (swinging, climbing, chimney jumping, balance walking, pole vaulting, shimmying, etc&hellip to use in what areas of the environment, where your goal is to decipher your route to get from point A to point B of the intricate structures. Then of course there's solving the riddles of ancient mechanisms and how to activate them so you can proceed.

The environments and puzzles are on a massive scale, made majestic by the detail and beautiful rendering of the art. Southern Mexico in particular covers a vast expanse of territory as you'll race through the jungle on your cycle to not one, but a few temples, exploring them to recover the pieces you'll need to solve the even greater puzzle leading into the next grand secret chamber – with even more puzzles to solve. There's a reason that mission gains you a 100 point achievement for completing.

The challenge in some areas will be quite high; stemming from the size of the environments that leaves much guess work as to the correct path and order you need to take multiple routes in, which adds to the complexity of the puzzles. While some puzzles will be easy to navigate and solve, be prepared to do some wandering as you stumble along looking for the solution to some others. Thinking will be required here.

What I always found to be the charm of the Tomb Raider series is the sense of wonder and discovery. These were games where I felt I wasn't just having an adventure in some fantasy world, but really delving deep into the mysteries of our own world. Uncovering remnants of long perished civilizations that still seemed connected to our own modern world fostered a fascination I rarely found in other games. These are the roots of what made the series so great in the old days, which Crystal Dynamics has so successfully resurrected and enhanced in modern gaming form. This is also where the brilliant visuals augment the experience lending authenticity to the cultural exoticness of the ruins, where you'll really feel like you're in a genuine recreation. This is a game of exploration, and not just of old structures, but also of ancient legends and mythologies. Where Legend took it's rendition of the "reality" behind the myths of Excalibur, Underworld does the same, with a unique approach to Norse mythology, uncovering the secrets of Thor's hammer, the World Serpent, and the prophesy of Ragnarok.

---

Feature Upgrades

When Crystal Dynamics took the reigns of this beloved franchise, they didn't stop at taking the game back to its roots of what made it great. They also looked to see where tweaks could be made to the game mechanics, by eliminating limitations Lara had in past games that she really shouldn't have today. Being able to target two enemies simultaneously as well as being able to shoot (just one pistol) while hanging from a ledge is a very welcome addition, and about time too. But there's two new enhancements in particular that are the real stars of the show;

First is the addition of the Adrenaline Head Shot. This fantastic combat maneuver is both cinematic and remains interactive, where you still control the aiming during the slow motion action. It gives you the feeling of controlling a powerful character, more skilled in marksmanship than the average mercenary she encounters, albiet in more of a hollywood action movie enhanced by special effects, than in the traditional FPS player based skill manner. And when it comes right down to it, it just looks frakkin COOL. This is one of those play mechanics that I can say never gets old.

Second is the new and improved method of special action sequences. Gone is the tired old Quick Time mechanic. This has become an all too common feature and having button icons pop on screen, really breaks the immersion quality of a game, and pulls you away from the fluid game play, where it becomes a segment where you're riding the rails. Basically it smacks of hand holding where the game is telling you what to do and you have to follow on queue. Instead, suring critical moments, the action simply slows down, allowing you to execute the appropriate maneuvers from Lara's repertoir, whether that's a jump, grab, roll, or shooting of the grapple line. Without the icons appearing on screen, and the fact that your actions are still fully in your hands, relying on your knowledge of the built in control scheme (basically you're controlling the same way you normally are througout the game), the immersion is never broken and it blends much more seamlessly with the standard game play.

It is now my firm held position that this, THIS is how special action sequences whould be done in all games, to completely replace on screen icon pop-ups. The era of Quick Time must be brought to an end.

---

The Downside

Yeah, need to get to this part. And how unfortunate it is that after all these years, Tomb Raider is still struggling with the camera. While most of the time the game control is solid in executing Lara's acrobatic maneuvers, it can get hampered in those cases the camera refuses to give you the proper viewing angle of your environement, leading analog stick direction confusion, that in turn cause you to jump in the wrong direction - like towards a chasm instead of the opposing ledge which is where you (in your mind at least) was aiming towards. Considering it's been 13 years, you'd think this would be resolved by now. Even if Crystal Dynamics has only had tenancy of the series recently, still this is an issue that has been dealt with by games since the 3D era 1st began. To Crystal Dynamics I sentence them to mandatory lessons from Ubisoft

It's this persistant shortcoming that prevents me from giving Tomb Raider Underworld a higher score, and believe me I would like to, as I rank this is the best of all the Tomb Raider games. Another smaller complaint I have of this game is far fewer costume options than Legend. It seems silly, but did add replay value, and was just fun to give you the player the choice to see Lara how you wanted.

So my final score for Underworld is 8.5

---

On a Final Note

OK, so this doesn't really have any bearing on the game itself. But I'm going to include it anyway, because hell, it's MY review I just have to say... Alison Carroll is THE best Lara Croft there has ever been (Angelina Jolie included). She really looks the part, with a face both friendly and determined, has the stance, the confidence, the cIass and best of all, genuine British poise. In all respects that matter most, she comes across as the embodiment of the ploygons come right out of the screen and taken flesh. Alison is undeniably beautiful, confident, and exemplifies unwavering perserverence – all the qualities that we have come to love about Lara herself. Oh yeah... and she's an actual GYMNAST!!! How much more perfect could any lady be to carry the mantle? Alison, you're doing a fantastic job so far and I hope you'll be the face of Tomb Raider for a long time to come