Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

Star Trek: The Video Game (PS3) Review (or He’s Dead, Jim)

At this point, there is nothing I can say at add to the conversation about Star Trek: The Video Game. The consensus puts this games in with Aliens: Colonial Marines and The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct in a three-way race for the worst game of 2013. It’s a shame because I had high hopes for it considering that it was a Star Trek game developed by a pretty good Canadian developer.

Since nothing I can write will be a revelation when it comes to this game, I thought I’d take an in-depth look at everything good and bad in Star Trek and make it the most detailed review you can find of this game.

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F1 Power Rankings: Spanish Grand Prix

After four flyaway races to start the season, the Formula One World Championship returns to Europe to start the heart of the season. The European season runs from May through to mid-September will separate the pretenders from the contenders. Given that we’ve had a pretty varied set of results for the first four races, a little settling into a groove is probably due.

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Wednesday Link-Off: Bursting the Bubble

jessica-lowndes-btsports13-04It’s the middle of the week which means it’s time for the links. It also means I’m going to pay a visit to my local comic book establishment today. Every week, we have the new release list over on et geekera if you’re looking to buy some comics. Anyway, let’s start with Canadian actress Jessica Lowndes.

It seems like a cliché to say that people who knew a murder never saw it coming but many people who knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev never saw it coming. (New York Times)

If you weren’t paying attention to the NRA convention, you missed some weird things. (The Guardian)

It’s only fitting to jump from one area of the Republican bubble to another. A NASA-headed study shows that weather patterns are getting more extreme as a result of climate change. That would explain the ridiculous amounts of snow I got this winter. (LA Times)

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2 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns

Have Attack Ads Outlived Their Welcome?

harper-vs-trudeauA funny little poll came out late last week. It was the first national poll conducted after the Liberals selected Justin Trudeau as their new party leader. Oddly enough, the results of the poll showed that the Liberal Party holds a seven point lead over the governing Conservatives.

While there are plenty of explanations that one could attribute to the reason for the swing in polling numbers, my theory is that it comes down to the Conservative response to Trudeau’s election. Rather than promote themselves, the Conservatives have gone back to the well with attack ads about Trudeau’s inexperience and past statements. Could this mean that their old attack ad strategy might not be working anymore?

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IndyCar – Sao Paulo Indy: Re-Elect Hinch

indycar-2013-sao-paulo-hinchcliffe-victoryIt used to be that we didn’t expect much passing from a street race but that’s changed since the introduction of the DW12. That was never more evident than yesterday in Sao Paulo when an absolutely epic IndyCar race ended with a pass for the win on the final turn of the last lap to give the Mayor of Hinchtown, James Hinchcliffe, his second win of the season.

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Sunday Link-Off: (Sports) Media Matters

valerie-van-der-graaf-beachbunny13-04You know, it’s tough to have weekend plans completely ruined by the incompetence of a parcel service. You promise delivery on a Thursday but rather than fly the parcel from Mississauga  UPS drove it from there to Northern Ontario. Yeah, why use the convenient airport that’s right there.

Anyway, today is a Sunday which means that it’s time for the end of the week links. Let’s start with Dutch model Valerie van der Graaf.

Bad news for people claiming that the “tax and spend liberals” are crippling America’s economy, they need to do a little fact-checking. The federal deficit is actually shrinking. (NPR)

In professional wrestling, Hulk Hogan could use his political clout to influence the outcome of matches. Now, he’s trying to do the same to the First Amendment. (Mugshots)

Are blogs dying or just evolving from their classic form? (The Dish)

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Entertainment Link-Off: You Won’t See Me Coming!

rebecca hallWell there is little competition in theatres this weekend as Iron Man 3 is finally released in North America. To kick off the Entertainment Link-Off this week, I am not going to start off with Gwyneth Paltrow, who just happened to be named “most beautiful” by People’s magazine. Instead, I’ll go with the other leading lady Rebecca Hall. 

After the jump, Damon Lindelof talks about the struggles of World War Z, threequels galore, special Iron Man 3 China edition isn’t so special after all, the world’s smallest movie premieres, watch a disturbing sci-fi short film, a few new movie trailers to check out and JJ Abrams chats with Simon Pegg about Star Wars. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

Poker Night 2 Review (or The Small Blind)

poker-night-2-box-artI’ve never been very good at poker. I’m sure most of that is as a result of inconsistent betting patterns that made it hard to manipulate people and not being able to maintain a poker face but I’m going to blame the cards. Fortunately, I only had the cards to blame in Telltale Games’ Poker Night 2.

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2 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns, Video Games

Building the Perfect Star Trek Game

star-trek-picard-facepalmStar Trek: The Video Game by Digital Extremes seems to have launched as an unmitigated disaster. There are numerous bugs and glitches. The co-op AI appears to be somewhere between moronic and suicidal. If you’re playing on PC, online co-op doesn’t work. Basically, if you didn’t know that Paramount delayed release to promote with Star Trek: Into Darkness, you would swear it was rushed to co-promote it.

If the game’s failure wasn’t bad enough, the PR buzzwords Paramount and Digital Extremes threw out didn’t help either. They called it the most authentic Star Trek experience in a video game. While that might be true for the action-packed vision of Star Trek that J.J. Abrams is bringing to the screen, that’s not true of the Star Trek that damn near every Star Trek fan grew up with.

Despite the very shaky track record of licensed games, it is possible to make a great Star Trek game in the rebooted universe while staying true to Star Trek series and movies that we all know and love.

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Wednesday Link-Off: Where’s the Money?

anne-v-gqmexico13-03Sorry about the week starting off a little slow on posts. A lot of time went into last week so we’re a bit behind on this week. There are a couple of good gaming posts to close the week that I’m sure you’ll like. For now, here’s the most featured woman in SI Swimsuit history, Anne V.

The big story of the week is NBA player Jason Collins coming out of the closet to make him the first player in an American team sports league to “come out of the closet” as gay. (Sports Illustrated)

President Obama is having trouble getting his agenda through Congress. Compromising isn’t getting him far. He may just have to use his charisma to get his policy proposals through. (Washington Post)

The Harper Conservatives swept to power promising fiscal responsibility. Good luck running the on that when you’ve just lost $3.1 billion that was supposed to go to an anti-terror program. (CBC News)

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