Some news and other news

Well, hello. Got some news tidbits for everyone. I know you like news! Want some news? Here's some news! =D

I just got a new video game! Oh, wait, wrong news...

The new website is completely on hold. Maybe for a long time... =/ I need to come up with the money for making a website. The website I've been trying to set up doesn't like me and is being very uncooperative. So, I'm wanting to use an excellent service called web.com to build the site (I have experience with them, and it really is a great service), but I lack the money. I should have the money eventually, but it would require the website to launch at a much later date than I want.

In other news: Hunter is back at school, so he's not sick anymore. But in a bit of an unexpected surprise to me, I've had influenza A for several days (Since Friday or so) and hadn't known about it until yesterday. =/ I guess having an intense cough for 5 days is a sign that something may be wrong. =P So I'm out of school now, but may be back in a couple days from now since I've had the flu for at least five days. Before you say "Well, how could you not know you have the flu for several days?!" I have your answer right here: I am mysteriously missing a fever. I only had a fever for a few hours, and that was yesterday at school. I have the flu, but no fever...? Something odd with that... =/

Until next time, play nice.

Kyle

UPDATE: I forgot to clarify something. Since the website may only launch sometime next year, we'll have to keep this blog as the main output of the project until the website launches.

Learning Java Pt. 3 and Other News

Sorry, but this will have to be short. I might extend this post later, but I'm not sure.

In the Java class Hunter (aka nintendude) and I have been taking, we are now programming simple programs. I believe I said we may reveal the secret by the end of the year or early next year, and I stand by that at this point. We now have a total of 5 involved in the project, if I remember correctly.

To what we have been learning: We made Hello World, the most simple program you can make, and another program that was about several math functions. We learned several other things, too, but I don't have time to list or explain them.

We have been working on a new website, but we have been having a few problems with it. We should have the website up and running soon enough, complete with forums and details of our project.

And jumping to another topic: Hunter (aka nintendude) has caught the H1N1 virus. So, he will be missing school for a long while, including the java class. I hope he won't be part of the small percentage of deaths due to the virus.

I'm out of time, but I may extend this post later. Not sure.

Until next time, play nice.

Kyle (aka WiiGamin)

WiiGamin's Game of the Month

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

I've been quite excited for the third installment of the Mario & Luigi series. Its fast-paced battle sequences and hilarious dialogue make the whole series special in its own way. In this installment, you don't only play as Mario & Luigi, but you also play as Bowser! Playing as Bowser is always fun, and if you combine that with the fun battle sequences and funny dialogue in the Mario & Luigi series, you get an extremely fun game that you just can't put down.

Until next time, play nice.

WiiGamin

Learning Java Pt. 2 Plus an anouncement!

Here's part two of our Learning Java series.

So, we have started our Java class in school and nintendude and I have the class at the same time AND we sit next to each other! That's very convenient for us because it makes it easier for us to exchange ideas and work on our secret project. I will cover the subject of the project a little later in this post. So far, we haven't learned much because the computers in the classroom (To be specific, all the 24 inch iMacs) have been off the school network, so we haven't been able to log into our school accounts. That is supposed to be fixed this weekend, so we can (hopefully) start the heavy-duty coding very soon. Anyway, we've learned how binary works and how it translates to base 10. We've also learned a few basics of Java. We can write a program now, but it wouldn't do anything past a 'Hello World' program.

So, onto the topic of the project. We have had an extremely unexpected setback that nearly cost us the entire thing. I can't tell you what it was, because it would give away the entire project. Don't worry, I have a better estimate as to when we can reveal what we're doing. And that magic number is: January-February 2010. I know it's still far away, but please be patient. It's well worth the wait.

I feel comfortable enough to announce something that is directly linked to the project. It's small, but it's significant at the same time. We will change our name from Silicon Strategists to another name. The name Silicon Strategists has been a temporary name from the start. Want to know what the name is? Well, keep reading this blog. We will reveal the new name, and start a new site, upon revealing the project.

Until next time, play nice.

WiiGamin

PS: We now have two other people that nintendude knows very well that are now involved in the project, making the whole group a total of four at the time of this post. We may have a fifth member of the group soon. This project is big. We should have more members by the time the project is revealed.

Please note: we're not recruiting publicly. We are only getting friends we know personally and trust that meet the requirements for the project. Sorry!

Also note: This project is not like Fight Club's "Project Mayhem", so don't panic or feel creeped out; although, the first rule is...
And I hope you don't think WiiGamin and I are going to change the world; he makes it sound like a big deal, but really, it's a psychological trick: by telling y'all we have a "big, huge, secret" project, we feel more encouraged to pull through and complete it. It obviously involves software though; I mean, seriously, what else is Java for but software programming and, perhaps, drinking? lol.

WiiGamin's Game of the Month

Here's my first game of the month. They will include paragraphs that will range from short, quick 'horrays' to long, detailed praise. They will get better in quality as time goes on.

Halo 3: ODST

In the next installment in the Halo series, Halo 3: ODST, you are
not playing as Master Chief, but as an Orbital Drop Shock
Trooper investigating the reasons behind the Covenant’s invasion
of New Mombasa. ODST includes 3 new Halo 3 multiplayer maps
as well as the Mythic, Heroic, and Legendary map packs on a
2nd standalone disc. With the maps, new weapons, new tools,
new tactics, the beautiful graphics of the 360, AND the multiplayer
beta key for Halo: Reach, surely, this is a must for Halo fans
everywhere. And don't call me Shirley.

Until next time, play nice.

WiiGamin

Quick update

Nintendude and I have, again, been very busy with our everyday lives. So posting has become somewhat difficult. We're also just getting back into school, so posting will be even harder. Sorry! Without further ado, here's today's quick update.

On the subject of learning Java, we have begun our in-school class for Java programming and we should be able to code decently by November. I expect us to be able to code pretty well by March-June 2010. I know this may be WAY off, but it's just an assumption.

In other news, I have recently bought an Xbox 360 Elite, so I may begin to do bits that involve the 360 and it's games. It depends if I have time away from school. And I should start doing a Game of the Month bit every last day of the month beginning in a few days. I might be late every now and then, though.

Until next time, play nice.

WiiGamin

Redeeming Shawshank

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top
Let's start with my commentary on this [hyper]link: "Of all the hundreds and thousands to hundreds OF thousands of movies, everyone with Internet access who watches movies, and has therefore heard of IMDB, voted The Shawshank Redemption (directed by Frank Darabont as his first feature film, starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, and Bob Gunton) as the absolute greatest film of all time. Right now, I agree."
The film, based on a novella entitled "Rita Hayworth & [The] Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King, the author famous for his mastery of and dominance in the genre of horror, is one of his few non-scary tales and probably his most realistic. The setting of the movie, which is sort of a character in it's own right, turns most people off of being remotely interested immediately as they hear of it: a fictional place called "Shawshank State Prison", or to be less specific and more "in general", prison. People see the trailer, theatrical or otherwise, and assume it's just a "stupid little prison movie" to quote what my Dad thought when it was in theaters, the year I was born, in 1994. When he caught it just before it was halfway over on TV, then finished it, a few years later, he regretted not seeing it at the theater when it was there. Then he soon found out it was based on a story written by his favorite author, the aforementioned Stephen King, and was blown away. It's rated "R" for a bit of cussing and a few suggestive themes, which I'd rather not talk about here; if your so curious what those themes might be... watch the movie! lol. Besides, the reason I bring that up is that, traditionally, my parents don't allow me to play [rated] "M" games or watch [rated] "R" movies, the exceptions for the former being Halo and Call of Duty, while the exceptions for the latter are movies that have little or no sex and/or I just need to watch them as a precaution to anyone spoiling/ruining the climax, and therefore the whole movie, for me. That's why Dad let me watch Shawshank, that's why I'm so heavily encouraging and advising that you watch it ASAP; if you're an adult who hasn't seen it, drive to BlockBuster and rent it or Best Buy to purchase it, as it's definitely one worth owning (I recommend the 2-Disc Special Edition if you're a movie buff like me); if you're a child or teenager whom hasn't seen it, (I'm looking at you, all of my friends, especially WiiGamin!) ask your parents about it, or, in the case of my friends, invite me over and I'll bring the DVD so we can watch it. I actually kinda made a bargain with WiiGamin, which is not yet final, nor has it taken place yet; I already got him to watch the first forty minutes of Shawshank a week or two ago, and he liked what he saw, at least "somewhat" he says, so the deal is: if I bring Shawshank over and we watch it, perhaps skipping that forty minutes he's already seen (time is money) to just finish the 2 hours and 20 or so minutes long movie, I'll finally get to watch Harry Potter 5, not that I want to, WiiGamin. lol.
Shawshank is my new favorite film (an updated "Favorite Films" post of mine will bob to the surface, or "most recent article" spot, of our blog soon, with more than just switcheroos, so look out for it), because I realized how little sense a particular aspect of Fight Club's ending makes. I won't spoil anything, but if you've seen it you probably understand, unless you're unsure what exactly I'm referring to. I'll quote the movie as a clue: "With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels". Yeah, when Edward Norton does THAT at the end. While Fight Club is still my second favorite movie, Shawshank is also just that much better.
But anyway, back to the part about few people seeing it it 1994 for it's theatrical release: at the following Oscar Awards Show/Ceremony, Shawshank, as it's commonly abbreviated nowadays, was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to films like Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump, winning nothing. Yet those several nominations, opportunities for victory and praise that Hollywood gave to the film, instilled in many ordinary American citizens the will to check out the little prison movie that could. Movie fans were rushing to their local Blockbuster/(insert movie rental place name here) and soon enough, The Shawshank Redemption became most rented VHS Tape of 1995, and one of the most commonly rented films of all time.
Since then, it's become one of the greatest films of all time, made more and more popular by word of mouth: "Hey, dude. You've gotta check out this prison movie! It's awesome!" might not sound very convincing, but trust me: you'll be more than glad you did.

Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'!

nintendude794
P.S.: My sign-off, which I try to variate in order to keep things fresh, variety being the spice of life and all, is this time "Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.", a quote from Shawshank. This line is almost the moral theme of Yes Man, which I watched yesterday. I'd rephrase/combine this quote and Yes Man's theme into something like this: "Quit being such a boring average Joe and live your life or die trying!" That's not at all what the line means in Shawshank... [for those of us who've seen it] lol.
Oh, and also (while I'm here to center and resize the below horizontal line): Shawshank possesses my second favorite movie soundtrack. Although I can't remember if I already have an article on that... If not, you might see one by the end of August. That's definitely a pretty good guarantee. lol.

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(space reserved for WiiGamin to commentate on Shawshank once he's watched it)

Learning Java Pt. 1

Okay, so nintendude and I are going to learn Java so that we may start on a certain project. I won't get into details as to what we're going to do, but it's awesome. We have been planning this since 2008 as individuals, but during a phone conversation early this year, learned we both had the common goal. So, we are going to team up to... well, its a bit of a surprise. We will reveal it by the end of the year if everything goes well, so hang tight.

So, learning Java. Yay! I will (Hopefully) post updates as to what we are up to in our learning process and, when the time is right, reveal what our secret project is. We are both starting to learn, but we will start to get real progress in September, so we may reveal it soon after.

I should have a Learning Java Pt. 2 up soon(ish) enough, so look out for that*. I'll try to shoot for bi-weekly updates, but I can't make promises.

Until next time, play nice.

WiiGamin

*The updates will have a bit of a geeky tendency. Just warning you non-geeks out there. =)

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Learning any complex computer programming language, Java being a somewhat basic one to start with, has been a long time goal for both WiiGamin and I. Our application of said language shall remain secretive for a while longer; I even doubt we'll reveal our work around September, but it simply depends because I don't have the motive, will, or knowledge to even be sure of how to begin. All I have is my ideas, and lots of them; that's where post-it/sticky notes come in. If all works out, with Java-learning resources available online, as well as the class WiiGamin and I are taking at school this year, our master plan for world dominance shall soon be revealed. Oops...

And the "geek-the-of-year" award goes to:

nintendude794

I got Windows 7... Wow.

Alright, so. Three summers ago I discovered Macs with a YouTube video demonstrating Mac OS X.4 Tiger on some guy’s new Mac Mini; and the rest, as is too often said, is history. Then my aspiration became owning my own Mac. ASAP. As I recall, I got one for that Christmas, or maybe the year after that…

I’m typing this on that White, 120GB MacBook with 1GB of RAM; only the user interface strangely looks like Windows, not OS X. That’s because it is. Using Apple’s Boot Camp virtualization utility, I, with the help of WiiGamin and another techie friend of mine, successfully installed the Release Candidate of Windows 7 as a secondary operating system.

And: I. Am. In love. With it. Seriously. It’s breathtaking. I partitioned it to a 21GB volume; now I think I’m wishing I’d given it more space than that. But anyway, I love Windows 7 so far. I love the new taskbar design, with pinning large application icons to the Quick Launch area and using those little pins as the taskbar representations of open application windows by lighting up the buttons of any open applications. If there are multiple instances or windows of a particular application currently in use, say FireFox for me right now, there will be tiny slivers next to the pin, 1 sliver per every extra (meaning that the highlighted pin represents the first window, then slivers are added as more instances of the application are added) application window.

And this group of features called Windows Aero, which is notorious for being somewhat graphics and RAM intensive, works beautifully on this MacBook. Examples of some cool interface enhancements, although some may have been in Vista (personally, I wouldn’t know; lol), are things like hovering the cursor over an open application’s taskbar pin to show a miniature preview of all open windows of that application, as they currently look. Then there’s a “Show Desktop” button in the bottom right next to the analog clock: clicking it minimizes all windows to show the desktop, clicking again restores all of those windows; hovering over it activates “Peek At Desktop” (unless you’ve disabled it; you certainly shouldn’t), which makes every open window a transparent mass, showing just the outline(s), as to give you an easy, quick “peek” at the desktop. And, a feature which I know was in Vista, Flip 3D is a part of Aero that allows you to scroll through all open Windows in a cool 3D animation; warning, this is obviously one of the more graphics intensive aspects of Windows Vista, and 7. Basically, as an Apple fan, I see Windows Aero as a counter to the sleek interface Mac OS X has had for more than five years now. And I think it’s just as cool, if not even better. Sorry Apple.

Maybe I can write a similar post for Apple when Mac OS X.6 comes out, as it will have dozens to hundreds of minor tweaks to OS X.5, many of which make it worth a low price of only $30. Don’t you just love the word “only”? Especially comin’ from the unemployed… lol.

Well, I say to Microsoft: “Excellent work, number two.”

nintendude794

nintendude794's Favorite Films

I'm sorry it's been so long since WiiGamin and I have regularly posted; we're too busy trying to enjoy our summer break.
Anyway, this post is here to detail my top 10 favorite movies of all time, a list that nearly constantly fluctuates, so don't be surprised if you see a post similar to this later this year.

10.Up (Disney Pixar Animated Film) - Voices of: Ed Asner and some other people

Musical Score: Michael Giacchino
9.The Green Mile - Tom Hanks and many other popular male actors

Musical Score: Thomas Newman
8.Transformers (the first one) - Shia Lebouf, Megan Fox, Jon Voight

Musical Score: Steve Jablonsky
7.Searching For Bobby Fischer - Ben Kingsley, Laurence Fishburne, William H. Macy

Musical Score: James Horner
6.The Dark Knight - Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine

Musical Score: Hans Zimmer (& James Newton Howard)
5.The Italian Job (2001 remake) - Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Mos Def, Jason Statham, Donald Sutherland

Musical Score: John Powell
4.The Truman Show - Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Paul Giamatti

Musical Score: Philip Glass & other classical style composers/themes
3.A Beautiful Mind - Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris

Musical Score: James Horner
2.The Shawshank Redemption - Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton

Musical Score: Thomas Newman
1.Fight Club - Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter

Musical Score: "The Dust Brothers"

For now, just read the list. Over time, details of each movie will trickle into this article. After this, all of our articles about movies, other than WiiGamin's favorites, will go under the name "Magnificent Movies".

Comments are appreciated! What are y'all's favorite movies?

nintendude794

WiiGamin's Top 5 PC Games

Sorry for the lack of updates, but Nintendude and I have been really busy as of late. Without further delay, here's a quick update.

5. Tom Clancy's HAWX

HAWX was a very fun game, but a short one. The game itself, with its sleek jet fighters and vicious dogfights, is fun, but the story doesn't have too much replay value or weight to it. Nevertheless, it was the best flight game I've played because there seems to be a lack of dogfight games like this for the PC. So, Tom Clancy's HAWX gets slot #5 on my top PC games.

4. The Sims 3

Including all the original elements of The Sims 2 and more, new ones, The Sims 3 is a revolutionary Sims game like never before. The improvements to the game's engine let you drive around your neighborhood seamlessly instead of trapping you in your own lawn. With the best Create-A-Sim ever, creating yourself with 100% accuracy has never been easier. You can edit every facial detail, make a unique personality, and now even change the voice to the right pitch. The Sims 3 is definitely a must for all Sim fans and all who are interested. The Sims 3 gets slot #4 of my top PC games.

3. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

Who can deny how great of a Command & Conquer game this is? The best in the series, in my opinion at least, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is a huge success in the eyes of EA and most gamers. The realistically high-tech touch to this post-apocalyptic world makes a perfect balance of realism and fantasy. Realism, because most of the technology shown in the game is far from impossible in the time Tiberium Wars is set in. Fantasy, because obviously, something like Tiberium just defies reality. Being the geek I am, the high-tech environment just attracts me to this great game. Not to mention its story and gameplay: those are both beyond great. The interface is flawless in my opinion, but some might say otherwise. At any rate, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars gets slot #3 in my top PC games.

2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR)

The best Star Wars video game of all time, in my opinion. Set 4,000 years before the rise of Darth Vader, KotOR is about the struggle between the old Jedi Order and the Sith. Being set that far back in the Star Wars universe, there were endless possibilities in this uncharted territory. The result of BioWare's hard work is the best Star Wars story ever created, one of the best RPGs ever created, and the start of something new. The best Star Wars story ever because of how solid it is, how the surprises and secrets you learn later apply from the very beginning, and what you do at any point impacts the future of the story later. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic gets slot #2 in my top PC games.

1. Spore

The best PC game ever, in my opinion. Going from a single-cell organism to the most dominant race in the galaxy is just one of the many great things about this game. Using some unique technology and super advanced programming techniques, Spore is actually a milestone in programming, and will most likely remain in the hearts of gamers, programmers, and scientists as the larget scale video game of all time. Will Wright's imagination and genius is just incredible; the Spore we've played is nowhere near the final product he has envisioned. Spore's record setting development period of seven years has yet to truly end...
Spore gets slot #1 in my top PC games.

Until next time, play nice.

WiiGamin

E3's Finally Here... And Nintendo Already Lost...

The Electronic Entertainment Expo of 2009 (E3 '09 for short) is already/finally upon us; a video game news event where all the companies get together to have a party celebrating video games as they promote themselves with press conferences full of what gamers hope to be huge announcements and loads of footage from games being shown, as opposed to dumb sales charts and graphs... E3's not an actual contest until gamers watching and critical journalists make it one; we're the ones who judge which company's press conference was the absolute most impressive. There is of course always room for debate though...
Well, as if the title of this post isn't any clue, Microsoft's conference was amazing and awesome; I wasn't expecting that. If I didn't have to summarize what was so mind-blowing I would just tell you that my next few hundred dollars are spent... On an XBOX 360 once I save up. Actually, I won't start saving up until after I buy Call of Duty 4 for my PC. The official sequel to COD4, Modern WarFare 2, looked incredible yesterday on the 360 by the way. Anyway, the most amazingest (that's how awesome it is) surprise announcement was this: Project Natal is [the codename for] a motion sensing camera which recognizes people by their appearance and voice, and allows revolutionary new changes to be made to the way we interact with video games. I can't list all of it's other features; just search "Project Natal Trailer" on YouTube and you'll probably find it.
When you watch more info about it, you'll fully understand why Nintendo's chances at impressing us even more are slim, but only God knows. The best E3 coverage is G4's live television broadcast, although if you don't receive G4 as a cable channel, check out IGN's E3 2009 page.

I hope you enjoy the rest of E3 and/or my coverage on Twitter and this blog! Thanks for stopping by!

nintendude794

Up, Up, And Away! ... Pun intended...

Wow. Just wow. "Up", the new animated film by Pixar, was just indescribably and unbelievably amazing. I just saw it at a local mall, in fantastic 3D, with my parents, and it was mindbogglingly spectacular. I can continue coming up with synonyms for incredible, or I can do my best to actually talk about the movie's contents.
It's about an old man who, along with his future wife when they were children, aspired to be an explorer of South America, just like some particular famous explorer he admires. The first ten or fifteen minutes is a well-timed sequence summarizing his life up to being an old man as he is for the rest of the film: being a young boy who aspires to explore South America, meeting a girl who shares his aspirations and love, marrying her, and growing old with her until she tragically becomes ill and passes away. This is a major theme throughout the remainder of the story, as Carl, the old main man, tries to fulfill their original goals of living at a particular South American waterfall and exploring together. He's about to have his home repossessed and be forced into a nursing home when he, a popular neighborhood balloon salesman, uses hundreds to thousands of helium balloons to float his house away, soaring towards South America, and abandoning those who wanted him to move out of his house and into a nursing home. From there, the grand adventure begins! I wouldn't want to give away too much, now would I?
Trivia: The explorer Carl admires is voiced by Christopher Plummer, who played Dr. Rosen in A Beautiful Mind, the Ron Howard film that was musically scored by James Horner.
More Trivia: Speaking of score, Up's music was composed by my second favorite movie composer: Michael Giacchino, J.J. Abrams main composer. As I recall he's scored everything J.J. has been an involved leader in except for J.J.'s TV Show "Felicity", which aired before J.J. discovered Giacchino.

I was feeling bored and unwilling to create a new E3 Predictions video on my Youtube; this movie's so great that I'm reinvigorated with inspiration that makes me want to create that video wearing my cool new 3D glasses... lol. Look for my E3 '09 Predictions video within the next 60 hours... Maybe even less than 24. UPDATE: I was unable to record an E3 Predictions Video; I apologize.

Well, that's almost all I might have to say about Up. Go see it with your girlfriends, your families, or yourself as soon as possible. Probably right after you finish watching Star Trek or Terminator to lighten the mood...

Thanks for stopping by.

nintendude794

Metroid Gets Primed, And So Should You

Enough with the stupid jokes about Metroid Prime Ribs; we've got some serious business to talk about here.

Nintendo has announced that on August 24, 2009, the remakes for Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes headed for the Wii are going to be included with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on a single disc that will be called the Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Here is a part of IGN's article covering the details about this breaking news:

Don't say Nintendo didn't do anything for you: on August 24th, the publisher will release Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii. Metroid Prime Trilogy, releasing almost to the day of Metroid Prime 3 Corruption's two year anniversary, is a jammed to the brim package that combines all of Retro's first-person adventure games for the GameCube and Wii, on a single disc. And the two GameCube games – Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2 Echoes -- have been reworked with full widescreen, 480p support and feature the same awesome Wii Remote/Nunchuk control that made Metroid Prime 3 Corruption so tight.

Source - IGN

This is amazing, considering the Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes remakes in Japan are sold separately from each other. North America gets all 3 awesome titles for $49.99, the same price as a normal Wii game, all in one disc. This is a must-have for all Metroid fans.

Personally, I'm very excited for this release, even though I own all 3 titles. This must have been what Retro Studios was working on, but I have my doubts. I'm holding out for E3 '09 for an announcement on the next Metroid game; which the hinted title for is Metroid Dread. (The hint is somewhat hidden in a particular scan in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.)

Until next time, play nice.

WiiGamin

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I also own all three titles and I look forward to purchasing this amazing bargain of a collection when it releases on the beginning of the last full week of August. I believe the hint of "Metroid Dread" WiiGamin's referring to is in the opening sequence of Prime 3, when it's scrolling all of that data; if you snapshot the screen and examine it later, there's (as I recall) an excerpt of the code that says "Project Metroid 'Dread' nearing completion", or something like that.

I'm also excited for Nintendo's E3 plans this year, and have hopes that this year's showing will defeat any doubt of whether or not Nintendo cares about it's hardcore fans with enough big announcements to make more than just our heads spin... In five days, we'll only have five days left to wait...

I'll update this post with updates or confirmation as far as whether or not I'll be Twittering announcements as I watch the press conference, once said confirmation is available.

Also, just a notice, in case you haven't noticed. I've struggled to update the blog everyday this week, as our first post says I would; so, I need to present the solution: I'll now do my best to post at least once per week. I apologize for any disappointment and hope you continue to enjoy our blog regularly.

And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!

nintendude794

nintendude794's Top 5: Hollywood Composers

As of last summer, my fascination with music has grown uncontrollably to become a career possibility; it's currently my second occupation choice, number one being a job in the video game or computer industry. This is due in part to my discovery of how awesome the music in movies and TV Shows can be, and I've began studying Hollywood composers and their movie music; I've began memorizing who scored what as far as about a dozen composers. The purpose of this post is to list my top 5 favorite cinema musicians , and they are:

5. Klaus Badelt - I pick this guy because he laid an amazing foundation for the action of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy's themes. He's a student/apprentice of Hans Zimmer's, who scored Pirates 2 & 3 after Klaus composed the music for Pirates 1. One of my favorite movie soundtracks of all time is that of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl".

4. John Williams - The absolute most famous Hollywood musician of all time, who wrote a piece for Obama's inauguration since Obama picked him as the one to do so. He's known for scoring all but three of Steven Spielberg's films, including Indiana Jones, Jaws, Jurassic Park, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and many more; films not involving Spielberg include Star Wars, Harry Potter, Richard Donner's Superman movie (the old one), and several, perhaps dozens, others. Some of my favorite movie themes of all time are from Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars.

3. Hans Zimmer - I know him for scoring Christopher Nolan's "Batman" saga reboot (Batman Begins & The Dark Knight) alongside James Newton Howard, the second two Pirates of the Caribbean films, Broken Arrow, Ron Howard's Da Vinci Code movies, The Lion King, Gladiator, and Pearl Harbor. He's a very humble and talented German composer who's known for combining electronics and orchestra for most of his soundtracks. One of my favorite movie soundtracks of all time is that of The Dark Knight.

2. Michael Giacchino - Giacchino actually started out scoring video games, something I might want to take part in as a career. I mentioned him in the J.J. Abrams post for scoring most of J.J.'s work, including the movies Cloverfield, Star Trek (2009), and Mission: Impossible 3, as well as the TV Shows LOST, Alias, and Fringe. He's also scored numerous Disney animated films, including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and the upcoming project Up, which releases this summer. He conducted the orchestra at the latest Oscar Awards Show, and is probably best known for his LOST music, which uses pieces of an airplane for percussion and has become famous for obnoxious downward trombone glissandos for LOST's many cliffhangers. Some of my favorite music to come out of Hollywood is LOST's vast array of many cool themes.

1. James Horner - Although a controversial composer who's been accused of steal musical ideas and passages from other people as well as his own work (I can prove he's reused elements of his own music, but I like it and think it's a cool concept), James Horner is an amazing musician. He's scored many of Ron Howard's films, such as Cocoon, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, and Willow; otherwise, he's scored the movies Radio, Titanic, Jumanji, Casper, Braveheart, Legends of the Fall, Clear and Present Danger, Searching for Bobby Fischer, The Pelican Brief, Field of Dreams, Glory, The Land Before Time, Aliens, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. I haven't exactly seen all of these movies, although I've seen several of them. My absolute favorite movie soundtrack of all time is... the soundtrack of A Beautiful Mind.

And those are my top 5 favorite Hollywood composers. I'm still updating this post with links, and when I'm done, this sentence will be gone.

nintendude794

Introduction and More Coverage Info

Hello, and welcome to Silicon Strategists! I'm the other guy who will be posting to this blog, but I might be a little more in the background.

My name is Kyle, but I will be going by the alias WiiGamin. I'm a hardcore gamer, intermediate hardware tweak/repairer, and a learning programmer.

I will mainly be covering the following:

• Reviews (Pre and post play. Includes various Nintendo platforms, PC, and iPhone.)
• Video Game News (Nintendo-based, but will include PC gaming as well. More details later.)
  
• Tech News (Updates from this category will be less common than the others)
• Tech DIY/How-To (This will range from hardware repair to gaming tips. More details later.)
• And more

I will kindly listen to any and all comments, opinions, and suggestions that YOU have. We need to know what everyone thinks so that we can make improvements to the site. We hope the site will eventually grow to include other things such as forums so that we may become a large, friendly community. So contribute and follow our blog! We will reveal more later!

Until next time, play nice.

WiiGamin

"Celebrating Celebrity" 1: J.J. Abrams

As I listen to Coldplay's "Clocks", I feel I've picked a perfect topic considering this celebrity has had a few major happenings in the past week. J.J. Abrams (or Jeffrey Jacob Abrams) is a well-known television and film producer, screenwriter, director, actor, composer, as well as the founder of his studio, "Bad Robot Productions". Movie-wise, I know him for co-writing "Armageddon" (starring Bruce Willis); directing and co-writing "Mission: Impossible 3" (starring Tom Cruise); producing "Cloverfield" (starring a digitally animated monster that J.J. intended to become America's equivalent to Godzilla, however this monster looks to me kind of like a bulldog); and finally, directing and producing the latest "Star Trek" film, which released in American theaters a week ago when I saw it with some friends and really enjoyed it as an action-packed digital effects masterpiece. TV-wise, I know him as the co-creator, writer, executive producer, and director of LOST (currently my absolute favorite TV Show, until the Heroes plot improves; the Heroes season finale was great, compared to the rest of this season at least) and co-creator, writer, and executive producer of Fringe (of which the few episodes I saw I really liked and I intend to buy Season 1 DVDs when they come out), although I know he's worked on several other TV shows as well. For most of his Hollywood career, his work's music has been composed by a man named Michael Giacchino, making Abrams and Giacchino partners of sorts. I'm also a huge fan of him and his music, so he'll get his own post soon enough.

Now for J.J.'s accomplishments within the past week. Last Friday, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, his Star Trek reboot film launched here in the States, and it's an amazing feat of film-making. Sometime this week, the man who played Spock in the original Star Trek TV Show, who also reappeared as senior citizen Spock in the new movie, agreed to play a "major role" (said Abrams, as I saw on an IGN article) on the season finale of Abram's show Fringe; and that just sounds so awesome compared to the most famous actors they could get to play roles on Heroes, which are probably Greg Grunberg as Officer Matt Parkman and the guy who played Peter and Nathan Petrelli's father, Mr. Arthur Petrelli, an awesome villain for the first half (referring to "Volume 3: 'Villains'", since the second half of season 3 is "Volume 4: 'Fugitives'") of season 3. And finally, a couple nights ago (Wednesday), I was watching the Season 5 finale of LOST (I'll talk about LOST theories sometime!); I can't wait to see what season six is going to be about, and it's unfortunate for hardcore fans like me that next season is the end of the saga...

I'm a fan of J.J. Abrams and his accomplishments.

nintendude794

[Thanks to "gordonandthewhale.com" for the good picture]

My First Post

Welcome to Silicon Strategists! I'm Hunter, and this is my first post to a blog that discusses all kinds of cool stuff:
-Video Games = State of The Industry; discuss fun/favorite Games; Awesome Developers
-Music = My Favorite Artists, Genres, CDs, and songs; Music Theory; What do y'all listen to?
-Movies = Movies out lately; My Favorite Movies; Movies I happened to watch recently and my opinion of the particular film's quality
-TV Shows = Discussion of TV shows such as LOST (ABC), Heroes (NBC), Castle (ABC), Attack of The Show (G4), X-Play (G4), Good Eats (Food Network), and Feasting on Asphalt (Food Network)
-"Celebrating Celebrity" = I talk about some of my favorite people in the world
-"Top 5 _____" = my top five favorites of a particular material, such as the above topics.
-I'll come up with more creative and interesting topics for posts

I'll also discuss anything you'd like to hear an opinion on, or just say what I have to say about anything you're interested in. I'll do my best to post at least one entry per week and possibly eventually come up with a better name for our blog.

Thanks!

nintendude794

Note: On Friday, May 22, 2009, this post was edited to say that you can expect at least one post a week as one a day was quickly becoming overbearing. Please forgive us. Also, the segment names will likely change from those listed in this post, and I might just edit this post again later.