First Impressions: Equestria Girls; Friendship Games. "Oh no, not again"

When I made the content montage, I intended it to show off all my content for July as well, with an updated version for the end of the year showing off the August-December content as well... and then I wake up Friday morning to see this has been unveiled... well because I got a request to review the movie (and I needed an excuse to do the next first Impressions after this), lets see what this trailer has. The first impressions of the third Equestria Girls Movie, Friendship games. To the people who saw my main stage presentation at the Tech Games Fest, as I said in the Facebook page, I swear I'm not a brony.

Trying to see if I can fix that annoying bug that's plaguing the Facebook page for this site

Square Enix E3 2015

• Can't wait to show you more seems to be a trend here
• Just Cause 3: I haven't had any interest in Just cause before, and while I may give this one a shot, its not a priority for me. Though the trailer that is basically the presentation is quite boring
• Nier: Nothing to say, It looks nice and it has some well known staff working on it
• Rise of the Tomb Raider: I've already said what I had to say
• Lara Croft Go: would like to see it in action before I form opinions
• Heavensward Final Fantasy XIV: Hard to talk about expansions without experience of the games themselves
• Life is Strange: Ok?
• Dragon Quest Heroes The World Tree's woe and the Blight Below: Dragon Quest IX themed?
• Final Fantasy VII remake: Said what I needed to say, though I don't see the logic behind putting the original and the remake on PS4
• Kingdom Hearts Unchained: It looks nice for an iOS and Android game
• World of Final Fantasy: I'll get to it
• Hitman: I've said what I had to say already
• Hitman Sniper: ?
• Triad Wars: Not meaning for this to be racist, but Japan GTA?
• Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness: It looks intresting, though I'm more curious about the series itself
• Deus Ex Mankind Divided: Looks interesting, though I get the feeling I should play at least the last game before I play this one
• Final Fantasy Portal App:Just a name dump
• Project SETSUNA: The concept art looks nice

And with that. I'm done with the press conferences, but I'm not done with E3 yet. I'll be back on Friday for a break from E3 with The Ani... what's that at my door?

Nintendo E3 2015

• I don't care what people say, the muppet intro is hilarious
• Starfox Zero: It looks like a lot of fun, with the transforming vehicles
• Skylanders Superchargers: It's skylanders, but amiibo fans have two more to get
• Fire Emblem Fates: It's IF
• Shin Megami Tensai X Fire Emblem: Still looks great
• Xenoblade Chronicles X: Something that I'm becoming more and more interested in everytime I see it in action, it looks really good
• Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer: It looks charming, but nothing else aside from that
• Animal Crossing amiibo Festival: Animal Crossing Mario Party?
• Yoshi's Woolly World: It's so adorable
• Yo-Kai Watch: Nothing has caught my attention with it yet
• Mario and Luigi Paper Jam: Its a mash up of the two Mario RPG formulas that has a giant Mario Tank made of paper fighting giant paper Goomba tanks. Enough said
• Mario Tennis Ultra Smash: Its Mario Tennis
• Super Mario Maker amiibo support: Because why not have wii fit trainer go through Mario levels?

Sony E3 2015

Quick note, who was in charge of the vision mixer, when there's something on the screen, PEOPLE WATCHING THE STREAMS WANT TO FOCUS ON THE SCREEN, NOT EVERYTHING ELSE

• The Last Guardian: Looks ok, not a fan of how the feathers on the "griffon" are being rendered, but apart from that, it looks good
• Horizon Zero Dawn: It looks really fun to play and the world just looks gorgeous
• Hitman: Not much to say as it was a CGI trailer
• Street Fighter 5: It looks nice, but its still just another street fighter
• No Man's Sky: Pretty much what I said last year. I am considering picking it up though when I get a PS4
• Dreams: It looks nice, but its something that I can't really describe. I'm probably not going to pick it up because I'm not that kind of artist though. I could see people using it to make movies though for YouTube.
•  Firewatch: I've got nothing
• Destiny The Taken King: It's a little hard to talk about an expansion to a game I've never played
• Assassins Creed Syndicate: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
• Final Fantasy 7 Remake: O.O Getting!
• Ronin: Eh
• EITR: Looks interesting
• Mother Russia Bleeds: That's a gameplay style I haven't seen in a while
• Crossing Souls: Meh
•  Shenmue 3: Nothing to say, its a kickstarter
• Batman Arkham Knight: First person section?
• Project Morpheus: Something I need to test for myself before I form an opinion
• Playstation.Vue: Don't care
• Call of Duty: Black Ops III. I was so close to realizing my dream :( Maybe next year
• Disney Infinity 3.0: Still wanting to see fan movies people will make with these
• Star Wars Battlefront: I'll get to it later
• Uncharted 4: A thief's End: Looks like fun

Ubisoft E3 2015

• South Park The Fractured But Whole: First, are you honestly surprised at the name? Second. May give this a look, but then again, there was enough in Stick of Truth that turned me off, looks like a fun RPG, but... lets just say I agree with the censorship board on that one
• Good to see them acknowledging the fact that last year was a wake up call in terms of what you actually need to do for a game's launch. Like finishing the game
• For Honor: Looks decent, but I don't get why you're calling it a new genre
• The Crew Wild Run: Looks to be adding in more events and vehicles
• Trials Fusion Awesome Level Max: She was right, the only thing I have to describe it: WHAT THE F$&@ IS THAT?
• Tom Clancy The Division: Don't care
• Just Dance 2016: It's Just dance
• Tom Clancy Rainbow Six Siege: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
• Assassins Creed Syndicate: Finish the game this time before releasing it. This means bug testing and face rendering
• Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Wildlands: How many Tom Clancy games do you need in one year?

EA E3 2015

Just the summary here, I've got to get to Ubisoft

• Mass Effect Andromeda: Not much to say, but I do want to start playing the series
• Star Wars The Old Republic expansion: It looks like an interesting expansion, may give The Old republic a look
• Unravel: It looks charming in a Little Big Planet/ Chibi Robo kind of way. I'd need to see more gameplay before making a decision to play it, but you could tell the presenter was very nervous there
• Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2: I find it interesting that you can now play as the Zombies, nice change of pace. And the inclusion of Singleplayer is great to hear. Execution though is going to be another story
• Minions Paradise: Charming little mobile game
• Mirror's Edge Catalyst: It looks interesting to play. The only Mirror's Edge experience I've had is with the Occulus Rift so I've got nothing really to talk about here.

Microsoft E3 2015

So what did Microsoft bring to the table for its confrence? Well, I'm going to need to look into their other shows during the course of E3, but here's most of the stuff from their show. Which was a lot better then last years, one tech issue aside.

• Recore: It looks intresting
• X-box one backward comparability: ABOUT TIME!!!
• X-Box Elite controller: It's a customizable XB1 controler
• Fallout 4: Same as Bethesda, I'll get to it later
• Mods on X-box 1: Interesting
• Titanfall and Dragon Age Inquisition on EA Access: Eh
• Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2: Highway to the Dangerzone, comical
• Forza 6: I don't care about car porn
• Dark Souls 3: Nice CGI trailer...
• Tom Clancy's The Division: Fairly certain I saw this last year, even if it was just teased, so this isn't a world premiere. Meh otherwise as its just a CG trailer for a shooter
• Tom Clancy Rainbow Six Siege: Nothing new to talk about here in comparison to last year, from a person who has never played a Tom Clancy game's perspective
• Gigantic: Um?
• ID@XBox games montage: Looked like something that would be good to see, if the video feed was there. Audio was though.
• Tacoma: Space station Gone Home?
• Ashen: Not sure what to say as its just a gameplay less trailer. I do have one thing though: "I AM LIZARD GROOT!!!". I just woke up at time of writing, ok?
• Beyond Eyes: Maybe not something I'll pick up as its not the kind of game I enjoy. But I can't deny that the game looks beautiful
• Cuphead: It looks adorable. If I do get an x-box one, I'd pick it up. That and its final line "Coming 1936 (plus 80 years)" To those who don't like math, 2016
• Game Preview: aka Xbox's Steam greenlight esque system
• Ion: Something I may keep my eye on, interesting concept, but it hasn't sold me yet
• Rise of the Tomb Raider:It looks like a lot of fun, however I'm probably going to wait to see if its a timed exclusive or not
• Rare Replay: Its a collection of past games, not much more to say
• Sea of Thieves: Looks interesting
• Fable Legends: Already covered last year
• Gears of War Ultimate Edition: Its a remaster
• X-box and Valve VR/ Occulus: Not much to say really, Occulus Rift is being bundled with an XBox 1 controller
• Gears of War 4: Meh, don't care about the Gears of Wars games

Bethesda E3 2015:

Considering what's coming up, there isn't going to be a lot here, just some brief notes. There wasn't much in terms of staging, but so much to talk about later this week. So what am I going to talk about now?

• Studio montage: Something I wish I could talk about now, but POLARIS WOULDN'T STOP TALKING LONG ENOUGH TO LET ME HEAR IT (Thank you Bethesda for also streaming it on your own Youtube account)
• Bethesda.net: We want steam's pie is what I got out of it, what I'm curious about is if its exclusive or can steam tap into it for some of its games, like one I'll talk about later)
• Battleblade: Not TF2 is what I got out of that, basically a melee oriented TF2 from what was shown
• ESO: Meh, looks nice.  I'm not playing Elder Scrolls online, so I don't care
• ES Legends: Nice trailer :/ not much to say other then that

June update: Festivals, E3, videos and mood swings

It's that time of year again, E3 month. And once again, I'll be covering the E3 news, however, its slightly different this year, but I'll get to that later

First, reviews are going to be returning back to a more manageable schedule, there's no marathon this month, and three reviews planned, the first being Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney next Wednesday. The other reviews are going to be on two different perspectives on story telling, but you'll see what I mean when I announce them.

E3 this year, I'm going to be writing posts that talk about the press conferences again, but I'm not going to do a marathon of Impressions afterwards. Instead, I'm going to be getting together with a few people and posting a video of the conversation we have talking about the announcements. I'm hoping this means more coverage of E3 in a shorter amount of time. Right now there's one video planned, but that could change depending on what else is shown. I'll also be doing another "wishlist" of what I personally want to see at E3 before it starts like I did last year.

Now about that festival part of the title... I'm going to be volunteering at the Tech Games Festival at the Chisholm Institute of TAFE this year from the 30th of June to the 2nd of July. During this week, the E3 video I talked about will go live, so there won't be a void of content like the last two events I worked at. If anyone who reads this is also going to the festival, say hi if you see me. I don't know what I'll be wearing as a way to show who I am, due to the fact that I am working at it. I do have prior experience with what the event used to be, the Computer Games Boot Camp, at Monash University.

The E3 video (maybe videos) won't be the only video coming out this month. I am currently working on two promotional videos for the two sites (mainly the reviews site). One of them is a standard trailer (though potentially longer then a normal trailer, due to the song choice) and the other is a montage of the reviews and impressions posted since the sites launch. I'm hoping to debut them at the Tech Games Fest, with the videos being made public the week after when I return to University for Semester 2. On top of that, there are two other joint reviews in the production process, with planned release dates in the coming months.

One final thing, this is a bit of a plug for a friend of mine, but I do what I can. A twitch streamer called Duk700 is planning on getting back into streaming soon, with a challenge I can only salute him for (mainly because I'm planning on doing a similar challenge soon) either starting soon, or has already begun, depending on his schedule. If you're looking for someone new to watch, You can find his Twitch account here, I'll be posting links to his streams when he's about to broadcast as well, to help him get going. There's nothing else to say on the matter except for "See you next Wednesday for Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright".

First Impressions: Ant Man: So... does this mean that the movie will be shorter as well?

I seem to be doing a lot of these lately... So... Ant Man.

First Impressions: Fantastic 4: Really don't want to show off spoilers do they?

There are two kinds of trailers, trailers that show off a lot about what they're promoting, and in the case of these two, show off absolutely nothing that tells people what's actually going on. So... Fantastic 4 reboot!

First Impressions: Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Thought I'd forget?

One day, every year, there is what's known as Star Wars Day, May the 4th. Did you think I wasn't going to save a new Star Wars movie discussion for today? So finally, after waiting a decade since the last live action film, fans are being treated with Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. And I think its about time I properly joined into the discussion.

First Impressions: Raiders of the Lost Arcade... I mean Pixels

So the trailer for Pixels came out recently, a movie about what would happen if Arcade classics like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man were to come to life and attack humanity. You see, aside from the visuals, by that I mean the animation for the game characters, which do look good, everything else is pretty much copied and pasted from a Futurama mini episode called Raiders of the Lost Arcade, found inside the episode Anthology of Interest II. The entire post can be summed up as that one sentence, nothing else needs to be said. The only other thing is that its a Adam Sandler movie, so expect one or two good jokes and a lot of bad/ dumb ones. If you want to watch Pixels, I'm calling this now, watch Raiders of the Lost Arcade as it'll probably be better. Up next: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team

Opening Impressions/ Season 1 (and some of 2) Review: The Batman: Why? Because he's the Batman

Even before the Nolan films had come out, I highly doubt I’ll be able to go up to anyone, ask them if they’ve heard of Batman and not get a Yes in some form. While this may not be recent, it’s a great way to introduce the other aspect of Opening Impressions, it’s not limited to currently airing seasons, just what I’m currently watching and I’ve got something to say on the matter, so... The Batman.

Opening Impressions: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 5. Horses, Cults and repetitive arcs.

I did put this up as a Strawpoll, something that will be a common thing for stuff like this. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 5. If you’ve read the review of the last four season, then you’ll know what I’m going to say, nothing much has changed. But to be fair, by the fifth season, the only thing that’s going to change is the situations. At time of writing, all I’ve seen is the first three episodes, a two parter that introduces a new villain, and a world building episode.

First Impressions: LEGO Dimensions

Toys to games has always been a model I’ve been very cautious of. The idea is simple enough, pay for a special figure that has an RFID chip in its base, place the figure on some sort of reader and play as that character in the game itself, a sort of “Physical DLC” if you would. Currently, there are three franchises that use this model, Skylanders which focuses on Spyro esque creatures, Disney Infinity which is what happens when you combine Garry’s Mod, Disney and Skylanders and finally Nintendo’s amiibo, which are designed to work across multiple game franchises to unlock small things in the individual games like costumes, weapons, sparing partners, ect. Out of the three, I do have to admit, while at times to hard to actually find, the amiibo are the best executed so far. To me, it feels like I’m forced to pay for the characters I may only use once. Skylanders figures are limited to Skylanders, same as Disney Infinity’s are limited to Disney Infinity. While the amiibo are limited to Nintendo consoles, they’re not limited to one or two games (theoretically). I can use my Link amiibo in Super Smash Brothers for 3DS (once the peripheral comes out as I don’t have a new 3DS) and WiiU, Mario Kart 8 and Hyrule Warriors as an example. While I think more variety with the already released amiibo would be nice, it’s better than just limited to one or two games in the case of Disney Infinity. Tt Games wants in on this model as well, and what better franchise then the LEGO Games, hence LEGO Dimensions.

Opening Impressions: 5.4.3.2.1 Thunderbirds Are Go

You see, I would add in some sort of witty title and the name of the material that is the subject of this post. But, this already does it so well for me. So...

Opening Impressions: Digimon Fusion Season 2: "We finally realised 'we're stronger when we act as one'... kinda...

So, with more news coming out for Digimon Adventure Tri, Digimon Fusion Season 2 decides to make its appearance (why it took a year is beyond me, seeing as it was first aired a few years ago in Japan). Jeremy and Angie (two people I didn’t bring attention to in the Season 1 review) take their leave, and we now focus on all three of the Digi Destined, who actually have Digivices.

First Impressions: Shin Megami Tensai X Fire Emblem. You sure its not Persona x Fire Emblem?

I’ve got to hand it to the Nintendo Directs, they know how to grab my curiosity when it comes to games. I remember hearing about this game years ago and I, like a lot of others, thought it was a dead project. It wasn’t actually until the end of the trailer, when they gave the name of the game, that I realised what it was. Granted, I’ve got no experience with Shin Megami Tensai and its, very similar, side series Persona. But when the trailer started, I thought it was a Persona game. Everything I saw about  the trailer looked like it was a Persona game (based on what I’ve heard thanks to word of mouth).

First Impressions: Avengers Age of Ultron

Age of Ultron, the sequel to the box office hit "The Avengers". To say this movie is building up a hype train is a understatement and for good reason. With the success of the first film, how could they top it?