[iPhone App Review] Risk

It fascinates me how many different forms of entertainment there were before the internet and video games. There were puzzles, board games, physical activities outside, sports, card games, etc…

However, despite significant advances in technology many people continue on with the old traditions and  play board games to this day. A few of my friends and I are some of those people. We typically try to play one of he most classical strategic board games of all time where there is a minimum of 2 hours of game time.

That game is Risk. Recently on the iPhone, many newer style games have been released alongside a lot of board games which were made in the app store originally. Recently they have come out with Risk and in honor of our game nights I would like to review Risk, the application.

Continue reading

[Tech Review] iPhone 4

It’s finally here!  Following a few mental debates about whether or not to stick with Apple I decided to go with an iPhone 4 as my new choice in mobile devices, and I am not disappointed at all! After having the iPhone 3G for two years I was definitely ready for an upgrade. To say the least, the iPhone 3G has its flaws and, minor though they are, I was really starting to get sick of them. The iPhone 4 improves on almost every aspect and I’m going to share a few of these new features.

Continue reading

[Tech Review] iPad

So currently there is a ton of hype on this magical and revolutionary piece of hardware called the iPad. Before its advent though it was criticized almost as much as Sarah Palin. However, when it was finally released people got to play with its revolutionary  functions that have all been done before but simplified.

Review:

The iPad is definitely an innovative machine that is taking user experience for common tasks and glorifying them into something that looks much more on the futuristic side of things such as the internet, music usage and a home entertainment controller. However older devices such as a laptop can do everything the iPad can do save all the apps but an iPad cannot do everything that a computer can. Lets break down the machine altogether. Continue reading

[Tech News] The Potential of the iPad

Recently at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts, Apple hosted a press conference specifically for the newly announced, but highly criticized iPad. I saw a picture of it and honestly saw what I expected to see. Then I read about its hardware, and especially about its OS. Of course I was one of the people who quickly judged the iPad and criticized it for practically being a large iPod touch.

However, then I started to rationally think about Apple as a company and started to brainstorm on them in retrospect. Before you continue to be let down with the iPad, let’s state some facts. Apple is well known for the fact that it seems to come out with a new generation of its hardware of every type every few months it seems, save the iPhone which is coming at us annually. This has got to be one of the most diabolic but clever plans I have ever seen a company come up with. It is an amazing way to continually get money over time. I remember when the iPod Nano was released and it was a huge success. Now about ten generations and millions of dollars later the iPod Nano has evolved into a versatile video camera, photo album, calender, simple gaming machine and music/video player, when all it sprouted from was a an MP3 player. Continue reading

[Game Review] N.O.V.A. (iPhone)

System: iPhone
Developer:
Gameloft
Publisher:
Gameloft
Genre:
First Person Shooter

A lot of people have been said the iPhone would be a pitiful replacement for mobile gaming, they say. Touch interface alone cannot stand with the contending champs such as the DS or the PSP, they say. Well, Gameloft is here to prove whoever “they” may be wrong. N.O.V.A. was actually a well-hyped game for the iPhone leaving expectations quite high, but thankfully, N.O.V.A. lives up to every bit of it.

The story is pretty standard for a futuristic shooter. Your an ex-military soldier who gets drafted back into the fight to take care of some invading aliens. You follow the orders of an A.I. reminiscent of Cortana in Halo. You also have a suit kind of like the Mjolner armor. I feel like I know where some of the inspiration came from. Continue reading

[Movie Review] The Book of Eli (2010)

The Book of Eli has a very straight forward plot. The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world after some sort of war, rapture, or the end of days. It is a dry rustic world which I perceived as a mix between the environments of two popular video games, Borderlands and Fallout 3.

Eli (Denzel Washington) obviously has a book of some sort and he has a mission to take it somewhere, and he has been walking for over 31 years. Naturally he won’t let anyone touch it and it has some sort of power to it. People want power, enter antagonist Carnegie (Gary Oldman).

The movie includes some pretty unexpected twists and I am a strong believer in respecting people’s surprises so I won’t reveal any spoilers.

Continue reading

[Movies] Pat’s Top Ten Movies So Far…

10. Shoalin Soccer
Quite an unorthodox movie to put on a favorites list. As a soccer player though, this movie is very funny to me in a lot of ways. Relatively unknown by most people, this movie has a pretty funny story.

9. Twelve Monkeys
Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt perform admirably in this post-apocalyptic world that has a distorted time-line. This movie keeps you guessing until the very end. Continue reading

Worst to Best: Saw

There are a lot of Saw movies, and I’m here to separate the worst from the best. As we all know the 6th movie released on the 23rd which means I should have a review shortly. Eventually, when the next movie is released next year, I’ll do a review of that one as well. There is also an eighth movie slated for 2011, but I probably won’t do a review on that because by then I will have been in a very tragic accident while looking at Facebook Mobile while driving.

Anyway, on to the list! Keep in mind this list only covers the first five chapters to the story, since I haven’t seen the sixth installment yet. Continue reading

[Movie News] Paranormal Activity, Demand It!

Don’t you just love those movies that are made with a budget under 100,000 dollars and kick the shit out of most other movies that have huge budgets. Flashback to 1999 when the little movie The Blair Witch Project came out. A film that was originally produced with around 16,000 dollars and blew everyone away. Then there is movies like the upcoming Jame’s Cameron’s Avatar which has a budget of 288,000,000 Washingtons. Man, we are all praying that movie will be good, not for our sake, but for his.

But I digress, apparently the movie Paranormal Activitiy, which is included in that low budget movie market, made with only 11,000 dollars, premiered at the Screamfest Film Festival in 2007 and at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2008, and has been released at limited theaters this month. The movie has been receiving extremely high ratings from fans and critics scoring a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Continue reading

[Mobile Game Review] Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution (iPhone)

Overview:

civrevAt first I was a little hesitant to buy this game because I have unfortunately never played a Civilization game. I didn’t know if I would be able to get into it or not because I have a problem with turn-based strategy games like that. However, after I tinkered around for a while and got used to it, I started to understand the game’s mechanics and how to play it effectively. Continue reading