The VidZone Network Blog

Carl’s Movie Mini-Review: Alice in Wonderland

Carl — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:27:44 +0000

Tim Burton’s take on the Alice story seems to have all the right parts: A vibrant, committed, perfect-fit cast, spectacular costuming, and a focused end-point from the get-go. But somehow all these parts didn’t seem well-edited together. Taken individually, the scenes are fine, but I often found myself asking “is this what I’m really concerned [...]

Don’t Forget Where You Started

Carl — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:33:46 +0000

The VidZone Network logos over the years It’s been something like half a year since I wrote in this blog. That’s a shame since I’ve always enjoyed writing. But I also got into this Twitter thing that let’s me vent slowly in a stream of conscious manner. It’s sort of like how I treated my LiveJournal [...]

“Squircle” is not the sound it makes when you touch it

Carl — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:42:19 +0000

Image credit: RussellHeimlich.com I recently upgraded from my original Zune 30 to a Zune 80 thanks to a phenomenal sale price online. I love its smaller body, longer battery life, and of course the more than doubled capacity. Aside from non-tactile feedback, I also dislike touch-based controls on portable devices due the the additional battery drain the [...]

Carl’s Movie Mini-Review: District 9

Carl — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:23:33 +0000

District 9 Since the Halo movie project wasn’t able to get off the ground, producer Peter Jackson and director Niell Blomkamp didn’t care to waste their creative momentum and decided to remake Blomkamp’s short film Alive in Joburg. District 9 starts off as a sort of racial parable, mimicking the events surrounding apartheid in South Africa. [...]

E309: Shadow Complex impressions

Carl — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:56:23 +0000

In a nutshell: It’s Metroid-vania in a secret underground base/cave system. What I played: About five minutes of an already-started, time-limited demo. I wandered the cave system and made my initial infiltration into the base. I didn’t shoot at anything. Like: Map: The game uses a grid-based map system both as a HUD element and as the actual [...]

E309: Forza Motorsport III impressions

Carl — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:03:47 +0000

In a nutshell: Take one of the most exciting sim-style racers, fix what few problems it had, and add in even more goodies. What I played: A short two-lap race around a mountain track in a Lotus Evora. I also played it in the super-deluxe cockpit with triple-screen panorama, new Fanatec Porsche force feedback wheel, 5.1 audio, [...]

E309: Tony Hawk Ride impressions

Carl — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:56:29 +0000

In a nutshell: Remember Sega’s arcade Top Skater and AirTrix? Imagine you no longer have the safety bar to hold on to and sometimes you need to bend down and “grab” the board, too. What I played: Two passes through an introductory street course and a 1-minute session on the vert ramp. Like: Responsive: I didn’t sense any delay [...]

E309: Split/Second impressions

Carl — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:33:24 +0000

In a nutshell: It’s Burnout where you can blow up the environment. What I played: Three laps around an airport. Like: Action indicators: The game tells you when a rival car is near a triggerable trap and informs you what button to press to activate it. The window in which you can activate the trap is generally of a [...]

Puzzle Quest Galactrix (NDS) impressions

Carl — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:23:47 +0000

After a whole battery charge and a half–which translates to about ten hours–I’ve yet to feel truly engaged by Puzzle Quest Galactrix. Sure, it’s still plenty addicting, but I don’t feel as if I’ve really accomplished anything. I’ve only engaged in about a dozen or so battles, unlike its predecessor Puzzle Quest Warlords where the [...]

The King is dead. Long live the King.

Carl — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:53:20 +0000

I was in a funk all day. I woke up late, groggy, in the early afternoon. I ate lunch, did a little internet surfing, but after only a few hours being up and active, I didn’t feel much up for anything and could only go back to lie in bed. Around 6pm, I read [...]