Xbox One

Microsofts new gaming, or should I say multi-media console was revealed yesterday as the Xbox One and will launch globally this year.

They chose to focus 99% on the console and its features rather than games. The games will be shown at E3 instead and this has caused some major debate and hate from the gamer community, which is understandable yet not, as this was what Microsoft said they would do several days ago. Don’t you people read the news?

The Xbox One goes by the name “One” because of it’s philosophy. It’s meant to be an all-in-one box that is your ultimate device in the living room. You will be able to (in the US) to switch seemlessly between television, movies and your gaming with voice commands almost instantly.

• 8-core CPU
• 8GB DDR3 RAM
• 500 GB HDD
• Blu-ray
• DX 11.1 
• USB 3.0
• HDMI 1.4
• Skype integration
• Snap Mode

And perhaps the most interesting addition is that it will come with Kinect 2.0 which is required in order for the Xbox One to work at all. Kinect 2.0 will feature:

• 1080p video
• 30 FPS
• 250 000 IR sensors

It will recognize up to six people at once. It’s almost 1:1 in terms of speed and completely blows the old Kinect out of the park. It has voice features like never before and it also works completely in the dark.

And as usual the Xbox One will have Netflix, twitter, facebook etc. The newest addition being Skype in which we will be able to voice chat with in 1080p glory while playing games or watching movies/tv shows and whatnot which is a nice touch. Will this replace the former “Party Mode” that Microsoft had on Xbox Live?

In terms of games, which should be the most important part, Microsoft has saved 99% of it for E3. What they did say though, is that Xbox One will receive 15 exclusive games the first year and of which eight games will be entirely new franchises. I must say that this is an very impressive number.

Xbox Live is also growing from 15,000 servers to 300,000 servers. Microsoft want to remain kings of the hill in terms of superior online service and it looks like they will sit there for yet another generation with this power. Also, they have said they are focusing more than ever on developing first-party games in terms of exclusivity and integration between the players and the community.

The Xbox One event wasn’t too impressive, I’ll admit that. But I also knew that the gaming part was saved for E3 so I wasn’t disappointed. I feel the new Xbox One looks very nice and I am certain that a lot of the features will most likely only be available in the US at launch but with “hopes for globalization in the future”.

My decision will therefore be made after E3 when we know the launch games for both consoles and what exclusives titles they are getting. It will be a very, very interesting generation coming up and I am very excited for it.

PlayStation 4 Design Leaks

Xbox Reveal Tonight

The next Xbox will be revealed tonight at 19:00 CET or 1 PM EST.

You can watch it on Xbox’s website.

We’ve come a long way from this. How will the third box look like?

Broken City

Marky Mark and Russel Crowe. Can’t go wrong, right? Wrong.

Marky Mark was great. And so was Crowe. But the movie itself, it just was this same old cop thing we’ve seen and it offered nothing new or exciting. It was easily predictable, a bit dragged out and not once entangled me throughout any time of the movie. There weren’t any really memorable scenes or moment either, and the ending was mostly unsatisfying. A true definition of “B-flick” as they say.

I saw it on Blu-ray, and I honestly wouldn’t recommend this one to anyone. Only if there’s absolutely nothing else to watch.

Rating: 2 out 5

Failed to live up to the hype by all means.

The Great Gatsby 3D

Suits. DiCaprio. Gentlemen. Ladies. Champagne. New York. The 1920:s. How can this be anything but epic?

I am constantly repeating myself in saying that I belong in the olden days. And this movie certainly proves it. I felt like I had taken a time machine and gone back in time to where I belong. It was that magical. It was that fantastic. The Great Gatsby offered countless laughs, excitement, drama and intrigue as expected. It was an excellent film from the beginning to end.

And Tobey Maguire was brilliant together with Leonardo DiCaprio and he certainly grew on me a lot. DiCaprio’s greatness was to be expected and he delivered as usual in the highest level possible. It’s always a privilege to see him act and I couldn’t be more happy with it. But like I said, the hidden star of this show to me was Tobey. He did an excellent job and it was very nice to see. But all in all, all the actors did their job nobly and there was nothing to complain about.

The soundtrack was exquisite and it delivered some catchy tunes and some really nice dancing scenes that are highly memorable. The 3D effects were also very good and focused on little things to add to the experience on the side rather than try to take over the movie entirely, which to me was an excellent idea. Snow, rain and things like that. It was nice and helped to make the movie more entangling for sure.

The Great Gatsby is without a doubt one of the strongest movies of the year and I know I will watch many times over again. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Cheers, to a marvelous movie.

Star Trek: Into Darkness 3D

I have seen the first movie. I have read the entire prequel comic book series. I am officially ready to go into darkness. Did this insanely anticipated movie live up to all the hype after all these years?

I’m going to cut right to the chase. Star Trek: Into Darkness is a masterpiece through and through. Everything about this movie radiated excellence and it was artistically perfect. The special effects were world class, the story was entangling, engaging and interesting and it brought into itself one of the most interesting characters ever. It had hilarious jokes. Excellent battles. Epic space travel. It had sadness that brought tears to my eyes, yes this movie had indeed everything.

JJ Abrams did an amazing job with this motion picture. He really did. It delivered and exceeded my expectations greatly and I hope to see him doing several more Star Trek flicks. But perhaps not make me wait another five years please? I’d like to see it bi-annually. And I hope that if he doensn’t do it, the other person will follow suit in the same mature yet fun direction that I am sure has opened up Star Trek to non-Star Trekers. The 3D effects were quite subtle but they did add to the overall effect at certain parts and I even blinked with my eye in one scene as it felt the object was heading to pierce my left eye ball, which makes me more than satisfied with the 3D overall.

If you are looking for this years thus far best motion picture, look no further. This is it. This is an epic space adventure that I recommend highly. I will re-watch it countless times and I have a really difficult time seeing me praising any other movie coming out this year as much as this one. It looks like the strongest candidate to movie of the year for sure.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Masterful

Hot chicks in Star Trek? You bet.

Wanted

Without a doubt my most wanted thing right now are the highly promising Google Glass. I mean, have you seen the video for them? How wicked are they? I am willing to pay up to $999 for them once they are released if they deliver on all the awesomeness that they show in the video.

Technology sure is beautiful and I am eagerly awaiting the next big leap within it. Could it be Google Glass, or something even more legendary?

Olympus Has Fallen

My expectations weren’t especially high for this one. I expected an above average America saves the day action flick with that one typical commando hero.  And that’s exactly what I got.

If we look to the other side when it comes to the rather poor CGI effects, this movie was definitely passable and enjoyable. But only if you are realistic about it. Gerard Butler is a Secret Service agent and it’s his job to save the President when he gets attacked at the White House. It has a lot of funny jokes and moments and some rather cool execution scenes and through and through it delivered as an OK flick to watch.

Rating: 3 out of 5

True Blood

I just finished the first season of True Blood and I am liking it a lot lot. Vampire season is indeed in and I am getting my fixes now through both True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. Right now I feel that I prefer TVD slightly more due to the fact of the hotness of Damon. But True Blood is very hot with its kinky and bloody sex. So it’s a nice contrast between them.

Very much looking forward to beginning season 2, in fact, I will go with True Blood over TVD as it’s shorter and easier to finish up and catch up.

Blood, nudity and sex. Just my cup of joe.

Bayern München vs. Borussia Dortmund

Yesterday the final for this years Champion’s League event was settled. Bayern München beat Barcelona with a 7-0 aggregate victory embarassing thoroughly and booked their place in the finals once more.

It’ll be an historic event which is all-German as they face up against Borussia Dortmund who overcame Real Madrid in the semi-finals with a 4-3 aggregate win. Also very impressive, although not as dominant as Bayern were in theirs.

I’d say no doubt that these two teams are worthy of being in the final and I expect high-level German football which I recently discovered I must admit. And I am liking it a lot, in fact, I like it far more than Italian football right now and that’s huge. I will be following these two teams in the Bundesliga next season.

I tip Bayern München to win this final with 2-0 or maybe 2-1 depending on the form Dortmunds attack, or should I be saying Lewandowski? An incredible striker and Polish pride no doubt. Rumors has it he’s going to either Manchester United or Bayern München next season. Götze has already signed with Bayern from Dortmund and they are looking to lose their two best players for the next season to their biggest rivals, sad indeed.

Lewandowski scored four goals against Real Madrid in the semi-final to take his team all the way to the final.