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Happy Trails,
Sam.

So I recently purchased the game “Fallout 3” for PS3. It won a ton of game of the year awards and such, and I’m really interested in post-apocalyptic type settings and stories, so it seemed like a pretty obvious choice! I haven’t played Bethesda’s first two Fallout games, but since this one looked so different I figured this would be a good enough point to start from. Now in terms of a quick review: it’s crazy. It isn’t perfect, in fact it has quite a few glitches (IGN’s review said the glitches were only prevalent really in the PS3 version). But these days I’m trying to move towards the PS3, so I didn’t get it for the 360 (mainly because Xbox Live sucks to pay for).

Moooooving on… it’s awesome. It’s a rather slow buildup (heck, it starts the game with your birth!), but it’s enthralling. And that’s saying something since there are so many camera and character glitches. The voice-acting is top-notch, besides Uncharted 2 the best I’ve ever heard in a game. And I’m pretty positive Liam Neeson is one of the “main” characters, which is awesome. The game immediately throws you into this twisted, post-apocalyptic fallout shelter. It’s only a bit in that you finally break out and see the real, destroyed world. And the world is vast. And so intricate. It feels alive (and yes, I realize it’s actually all destroyed). You carry around a watch-type device called a Pip Boy that catalogs everything you have, and can also play different radio stations. One of the stations is apparently a “pre-war music station, now just playing on a loop.” It’s things like this which make this game so great: the atmosphere of it all. It feels like you’re the only one left. It feels like you’re in some twisted disturbed world, that humanity has lost it’s grips with reality. And you’re the only sane one left.

slow buildup, part 1

slow buildup, part 2

Well maybe that’s an over exaggeration, but you get the point. And there is SO MUCH TO DO! It’s an open world game, so you can go anywhere and do most anything as long as you have the gear for it. The game also takes place near Washington, DC, so it’s awesome seeing the vast wastelands of places I know and have been many times (is it weird to say that?)! Discussions of the Potomac river, traveling to DC, fighting in the DC metro centers, talk of the President still being alive, all this makes for an awesome experience.

Ghouls in the DC subway system! Ahhh! Oh wait. They're not real.

It’s mind boggling just how much there is to do, and the game doesn’t hesitate showing you all the things you could have done had you made different choices. Oh yeah, that’s another thing, your decisions count. If you steal from people, you will be labeled a thief. If you kill someone, they won’t come back. If you’re nice, people will be nice to you. If you are caught doing something, it will matter. In fact, it turns out if you hit one certain bar owner in Megaton (a small city in the game) in the back with a baseball bat, all his men will chase you out of the town for good. Even though you didn’t hurt him that bad! How unfair.

Megaton, the town I was rudely chased from

Springvale, the first town you encounter. It also includes the elementary school

It didn’t hit me how well-done this game was until I came across a certain elementary school in the first town you reach. I went in, thinking it would contain some supplies, and wanting to see what the school would look like destroyed. But as soon as I walked in the front door, I saw there were cages nailed to the wall. Confused, I walked over, and realized there were skeletons in the cages. And when I looked up, there were bodies hanging from the ceiling. Only then did raiders (the game’s post-apocalyptic band of crazed, murderous thieves) come in and start shooting at me. They had been using the school as a hideout, and had been bringing their victims here and killing them. It was disturbing. And it made me legitimately mad. Not so much that the raiders existed (they’re just game characters, after all), but rather that this environment had to exist because the characters existed… if that makes sense. Say what you will about how terrible it is that would be put in a video game, if a game gets a visceral reaction from you, it’s doing something right. I got a similar reaction playing this (at times) that I got watching The Road. Not nearly as amazing as the movie (or book), but still great!

Oh, the details

Leaving the disturbing parts aside, this is similar to what we hope to achieve with our eventual post-apocalyptic drama idea Will and I are constantly working on. Granted, I’m only probably 1/5 of my way through this game, but I love it so far and had nothing else to write about!

In fact, after randomly writing for a while, I realize this probably makes no sense to anyone but me… Ah well!

Happy Trails,
Sam.

A few years back, Will and I started writing reviews for iTunes under the name “The Official IBU Review Board Review”. At the time we thought the reviews were hilarious, and after finding them again a few days ago, I still think they are. But who knows? Maybe they’re only funny as inside jokes. There’s not much to get, they’re just stupid reviews of random albums/movies.

So anyways because of this you all get to experience them! I’ll post a new one of them every week, starting right now with our old review of High School Musical (the movie, not the album). Enjoy… (click to see full version)

Happy Trails,
Sam.

Update: Sam is incredibly hungry at the moment because he ingeniously decided to only have one meal the entire day. He is thus writing this post while munching on chips (in case you were wondering).

Update #2: Sam is mad due to the Emmy’s the other night.

Update #3: Due to the previously mentioned extreme hunger, Sam’s anger has been increased 100 fold regarding this.



IMPORTANT: For your convenience, parts of this post have been written in the 3rd person. And here commences the post:

First off, what the heck? No, seriously! What the heck!?

• What is Sam talking about here? Get caught up on the info about the Emmy’s over here and here. Note: this ends the 3rd-person portion of the post.

How did LOST not win? Not only how did they not win everything, but how did the most anticipated television season/series finale of the last decade not win a single award? Not even Terry O’Quinn?? I mean, Aaron Paul? Seriously? Bryan Cranston I can totally understand beating Matthew Fox (though I love him) for lead actor in a drama, cause Bryan Cranston is a pretty incredible actor. But Aaron Paul beating BOTH Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson? That’s just… *choose your expletive combo*. While I am in awe of both Terry and Michael, Terry was the clear winner. He essentially played three separate characters in the sixth season alone (pre-Island Locke, post-Island Locke, and the Man in Black), and in such a way that I was taken aback multiple times.

I’m almost tempted to say Aaron Paul won because both Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson have won in previous years, but that excuse is crap, cause Mad Men has beat LOST in best drama for the past few years in a row. And yet again Mad Men beat LOST in the Best Drama department. That. Is. Crap. Sorry, had to say it. LOST has something no other series on the list has, an ending. It’s done. The LOST team ended LOST, and just how it should have ended. The finale did what the perfect finale should: it tied up every important character thread since the season, and finished answering nearly all the questions we posed in the first two seasons. It brought the series literally around full-circle, ending right where it began, in the same way the great epics of literature do. It was an immensely symbolic action, and for me more than anything finalized LOST’s place in television history. It began with an eye opening, it ended years later with that same eye closing in the same location. It was beautiful. It made everything in the last six seasons worth it. And it deserves recognition.

Yet here comes Mad Men. And what is Man Men anyways? Most people seem to make the same statements every year: “Oh, well Mad Men beat out LOST for Best Drama again. I mean, I don’t watch Mad Men, but I guess it’s good or something.” Nobody watches the show.

I have seen an episode of Mad Men, and honestly I didn’t like it that much. I’m sure there’s something good hidden there, but it didn’t soak me in, it didn’t make me feel invested in anything or make me want to keep watching. As my friend Will puts it, “From the first episode of LOST I watched, I was sucked in. I just realized these were pretty amazing characters.”

And HOW did LOST not win for cinematography for “The End”? As a photography enthusiast myself, my mind was blown after seeing the series finale. Some of the lighting, the mood, and the shots were beautiful. LOST should have won for just the shot of Locke staring out at the boat in the ocean with the storm rolling in. It was moody, crazy, and exactly what it should have been.
And how did “The End” not win for writing? I mean I’m sure the Mad Men episode “Shut The Door. Have A Seat.” had great writing, too. But Damon and Carlton did the impossible: they ended LOST. Correctly. They deserve an award all of their own for that! I figured the fact there was a whole thing where the Emmy’s allowed the “too-long” series finale to be accepted anyways was a pretty sure sign LOST was going to win.

I feel like Mad Men and Dexter beat out LOST for the same reason the academy award for picture of the year is always given out to a R-rated film which deals with what some self-proclaimed intellectuals would like to call “more serious, adult scenarios.” Nothing frivolous like time-traveling bunnies, island deities, and love after death.

Of course, after complaining about LOST I could go on to the other categories, such as how the heck did Jim Parsons (from Big Bang Theory, which you prob also didn’t know) beat out Steve Carell, Alec Baldwin, and the great Tony Shalhoub for best comedy actor? Tony Shalhoub deserved it for his great final season of Monk in my opinion.

And going back to the best supporting actors in a drama, where oh WHERE was the mention for John Noble as Walter Bishop?? Besides Terry O’Quinn he deserved it most of all. All of you should go watch the Fringe episode entitled “Peter” for yourselves. He is a truly brilliant actor, who is not getting the recognition he deserves. And once again, I can only think it’s cause Fringe is a sci-fi show. As such, the actors and drama cannot be treated seriously. That’s dumb, and shows a serious flaw in the award-system. Cry all you want. It’s flawed.

Basically I’ve LOST (haha, get the pun?) all faith in the Emmy’s, and it’s going to be very hard to get it back. However, even so, this doesn’t change my opinion of LOST in the least. LOST changed the way television can be approached, and that’ll always keep it special.



Happy Trails and Namaste,
Sam.



PS – Post-rage, I realize some of my comments about Mad Men being unworthy and the Emmy’s being “dumb”, “incredibly flawed”, etc. were probably a bit harsh…. ah well!