Toronto - Being a gamer, I was quite excited to get an invitation to Microsoft’s X’08 event here in Toronto on a sunny Thursday afternoon. Nothing like neglecting the summer light and immersing myself in the darkness that is known as Circa. I was also excited that the invitation said free drinks and a delicious dinner. The promise of new games to try out, free food and free booze was more then enough for me to haul ass over to the nightclub after work. Here is my report.

First of all, the free food was essentially burgers, however, these burgers weren’t bbqed, rather served in those steam trays you see at a lot of buffets. Pass. Burgers should only be eaten off a bbq. Most avid gamers probably don’t have a healthy diet as it is, providing them with burgers - not the best idea. What about the free booze? Well, here were my beer options - Bud, Bud Light and Labatt Blue. Am I at a Nascar event? Shite beers. Still I can’t complain, it’s free.

Let’s take a look at the games, because that is what we are here for.

Gears of War 2 - The big one. I played this for 10-15 minutes, and yeah, it has all the makings of a classic. The graphics are crisp, the controls are the same and the new features (hostage taking, chainsaw battle) are all welcomed features. We played some new gametype too, it was called Wingmen or something. I don’t know, I just shoot everything I see on the screen. You were going to buy this game anyway.

Fable II - I played this for about 10 minutes, it has a lot of the same controls as the last game, which is good. The level I played, I had a dog with me and a GUN. I had no clue you can have a gun in Fable. THUG LIFE. The fighting on it seems to be more refined and although I didn’t get to do any of the RPG elements, the game looks slick and well, you have a pet.

Too Human - This game felt like a button masher, and I am not a big fan of that. The menu system looked horrible, and the graphics were okay. I am not really a fan of this style of game, so I can’t say much about it.

NHL 09 - This game looked f’n nice, unfortunately, there were some douchebags in line who decided to play an entire game and thus creating a massive lineup that I avoided. It looked nice though.

Rock Band 2 - Poor Guitar Hero, sure they had a setup, but everyone was about the rock band 2. Check out the drums:

The formula is tried and true, and it’ll sell.

Some EA Sports Cartoony Boxing match - Ridiculous. After the awesomeness known as Fight Night, they come out with this bullshit boxing game that is clearly not Fight Night. I can’t see how this game will supplant Fight Night as the go to boxing game.

NBA Live and Fifa 2009 - Both these games looked very pretty, but I am biased towards NBA 2K9 and Winning Eleven, so I didn’t really give these a chance. I just can’t see these two series supplanting the other two. Case in point, I couldn’t even find the hop step button on NBA Live when I was driving with Jose Calderon. Calderon then made a racial gesture at the screen.

Golden Axe - There was a 3d version of Golden Axe now. It was not that good, basically you run around killing stuff in a gory fashion. Not my style of game.

Call of Duty 5 - If Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty 4 had sex, and then one of them had a baby, this would be it. Nothing special, just same old, same old.

Spiderman game - Mid Air fights looked pretty awesome, and the graphics look fantastic. You will probably spend hours just swinging around Manhattan.

That’s about all the games I had time for (and my free beer tickets ran out).

Toronto - Albion, Albion where has thou gone? Back in 2002, The Libertines were on top of the world. Well, old world, as in England. Seems like they could do no wrong, their guitar based celebration of the working class, along with renegade street gigs captured the imagination and hope of all young English lads. They inspired people to wear classic British uniforms as jackets and all in all, revived garage rock in England much like The Strokes did States side. I still remember me and Vik walking out of a Franz Ferdinand concert in 2004, Vik pointing to a guy wearing military garb and yelling ‘It’s Pete Doherty man!’. Haha. Classic.

Fast forward to 2008. The Libertines have broken up, Pete Doherty is more known for heroine and dating Kate Moss then his immense talent for writing up melodic rock songs, and Carl Barat still sounds like that jaded girlfriend that can’t let things go. Forming his own band - Dirty Pretty Things, it seems like good ole Carl is still trying to live his past glory. 2008 sees the DPT released their second album - Romance at Short Notice, off Vertigo Records.

I’ll admit, I was a bit disappointed at the DPT’s first album - Waterloo to Anywhere. Despite a stellar first single “Bang Bang You’re Dead” (I wonder who that one was about), the album didn’t quite have the same melodic songwriting draw that previous Libs albums did. Sure it had some of the manic energy that those albums did, but something was just missing.

“Romance at Short Notice” is definitely a different album. It sounds less angry and makes an valiant attempt at bringing in a different sound. That’s not to say this album strays far from the guitar based lad rock formula. However, this band does have more lighter affairs, and the songs takes on a more relaxed, melodic approach - which in my mind, was one of the strengths of those Libertine albums. It’s a shame that everything these two put out will be compared to those two albums, but that’s life. Stellar tracks include “Faultlines”, “Plastik Hearts” and lead single “Tired of England”. Overall, it’s not a horrible album, but it’s nothing special, which is pretty sad, because the Libertines probably could have been

2/5

On a side note, I remember walking out of a concert once, and I had a sweater on that said ‘Manchester’ on the back, and some bloke came up to me and said ‘Mate, you from Manchester? where bouts?’. I was like..err no. He seemed really disappointed. Seriously, If I wore a Disneyland shirt, does not mean I’m from Disneyland.

 

 Dirty Pretty Things - FaultLines: Play Now

If you’re a Northern Soul fan be sure to check out this soulicious song (in video form here) from Estelle. If you mixed this track in between Frank Wilson and Barbara Mills you wouldn’t even notice the song was produced in 2008. The song also features Cee-Lo (Gnarls Barkley), who doesn’t make an appearance in the video which I find curious. Is it perhaps because I made fun of him in a previous post? Well if it’s any consolation C-Dawg, your duet with Estelle is a hell of alot better than his.

Comedy troupe Summer of Tears managed to flawlessly impose themselves into Teen Wolf. The result will leave you howling.

Toronto - As I am watching the Beijing Olympics, it makes me realize how much I miss being in Hong Kong, being surrounded by my fellow chinamen, as we compete and scam our way to the top of the world. Of course, when the Olympics are over, us Hong Kong types go back to making backhanded remarks about how unsophisticated and rude the mainlanders are, and pondering why they keep on moving into our city. But, for now, we are one. With that in mind, let me continue my sporadic never-ending set of articles reviewing some of Hong Kong’s top attractions, further cementing the fact that Hong Kong is one of the best places to visit on Earth.

This time I will review the Ngong Ping area.
» Read the rest of the entry..

 

 Polytechnic - Cold Hearted Business: Play Now

Toronto - What’s with Australia and laid back poppy electro music lately? You got The Avalanches, Cut Copy, The Presets and now Van She. The latest in the line Of successful Modular releases, Van She is a Sydney foursome that specializes in the 80-esque electro pop music that you have come to expect from this label. You might have heard of them a few years ago, when they release the song “Kelly” that was popular with hipsters of all sorts (and blisspop.com). It was a light hearted summer tune ideal for those days when everything is carefree, everyone is wearing neon colored wayfarers and lazing about on the beach is the only acceptable activity.

Well, 2008 brings their debut LP - aptly called V. It was released August 9 and I got a chance to pick up a copy at my local record store. After some strong singles and tons of remixes, I had some high anticipation for this album. What did I get? To me, this album is a bit of a mixed bags, there are a some strong singles. I think the problem is that most of the strong songs on the album were already released as a single. (Kelly, Strangers) I found some of the synthy tunes repetitive and it wasn’t as catchy as I had hoped. Definitely no Cut Copy, who would be their closest comparision. Overall a pleasant debut with strong singles, but also, with a host of average tracks. Take your time man, take your time.

3/5

 

 Van She - So High: Play Now