Happy Spaceballs Day from Spaceball Troop Emoji's

 

HAPPY SPACEBALLS DAY EVERYONE!

#MaytheSchwartzDay

I made some Spaceball Troopers for Yogurts favorite day in the universe.

Batman V Superman: Why you need to see this movie

Batman V. Superman: Dawn of the Justice League
Just another review

DC/WB has released another movie to its list of Superhero movies, trying to cash in on what Marvel has started a few years ago. There is a lot of criticism about why this movie is bad or “not watchable” or boring, among many not great reviews. But as a self-proclaimed nerd and despite the poor reviews I took my family to see the movie, because you can’t call yourself a nerd and not go see this movie. I will save you the personal nerd references for another post some other time.

WTF DC!

1. Why in the actual @$&&@^! Would you let Zack Synder direct another DC property.

After all the bad reviews from the Superman re-boot movie. WB is all like we love that you made so much money on “The Watchmen” and “300”, keep directing our movies we “trust you”. Bad idea, both “The Watchmen” and “300” are totally boring and dumb movies, just his speed. Everyone in the world needs to stop giving him cred for these movies.

2.Where in the actual @*%& is Superman and Batman in this movie until the last act of the movie.

Really I mean really you don’t let either character be their superhero self until the 3^rd act of the movie. WTF!

3.Why is Bruce Wayne being all James Bond?

Seriously he should have broken into LexCorp like the Batman do fought a bunch of bad guys and got his info the way Batman do.

4. What in the actual crap was future alternate timeline Robin doing in Bruce’s dream!

Then he’s all like “oh well we screwed that one up”. I mean that made the story more confusing than it already was.

5.The story went from assuming the audience knew all we needed to know and then treating us like dummies and overexplaining @#$#@! That didn’t even need to be.

I am really tired of these movies over-explaining things. It made the movie to wordy and confusing.

6. Why the crap didn’t DC just take the storyline from the Batman V. Superman comic book.

All the material was right there and it would have made a decent movie and tied itself into all the other stuff from the “Man of Steel” movie.

7. Where in the actual @$$#@ are the other members of the Justice League in this movie.

I mean really Batman should have already found them and they should have all fought Doomsday. We didn’t need to save it for the “dramatic end scene statement”. I mean come on.

8. Stop using foul language in your ^$%#!# superhero movies.

Unless your movie is titled "Deadpool". I am taking my kids to see it. Superhero’s don’t need to use swear words, I mean WTF.

9.Batman doesn’t kill people!

This is a big one. Only because my 8 year old pointed it out during the movie.  I get it I had to explain the alternate future sequence but when he was saving Superman’s mom bad guys were getting shot (or it looked like they were).

10. I shouldn’t have to overlook things to like this movie.

Ok, here’s why you need to see this movie.

1.Wonder Woman

You have to wait for the 3^rd act to see her do her thing but it’s worth the wait just for her alone. Seriously she saves the whole movie and almost saves the day. You want her stand-alone movie to be her just kicking ass like she did.

2. Batman

Again you have to wait until the 3^rd act but the Batman saves woman from warehouse is classic Batman, it’s too bad we have to wait the whole movie for it.

3. Batman V. Superman

The fight is great and the victor is what it should have been.

4.Ben Affleck

Nails Batman/Bruce Wayne. Nails it, I says.

5. Alfred

We knew he could do all the stuff he did in the movie but to see it happen. #Awesome.

6. Wonder Woman

I don’t think I made it perfectly clear. The entrance of Wonder Woman was almost as good as the Hulk’s final scene entrance in the 1^st Avengers Movie (almost).

7. Princess Dianna

WW alter self, shows up a few times in the movie and you can tell it’s her. There will only ever be one actress to play WW but it’s pretty good.

8. Cyborg

It doesn’t tell you what’s happening or who it is but the scientist working on the guy that is like only half there is about to become Cyborg. Think Mega Man and Spiderman mashup. The only thing that was missing was he should have said “Booya!” at the end of the clip.

*Soapbox* If the Cyborg movie comes out and the character is not funny and witty and says “Booya!” (one million times) I will not watch any more DC movies.

9. Wonder Woman

Really! WT@$%@&^ Really!

Wrap up Button!

DC has a lot to live up to with the Marvel movies already overshadowing them. And any good nerd knows the difference between Marvel and DC is that DC characters are more serious and dramatic and Marvel heroes use more comedic effect to break up serious situations. Comedy is a good way to keep the audience listening to important things. This movie has too many missteps in dialogue and different things happening that it would be hard to follow even if Batman was cracking jokes. Too much of the movie was devoted to talking and as a parent I know my kids are not going to follow but I had a hard time following it too. Too much story telling is the issue I had with the first two Avengers movies. Stop “story telling” and just show me what’s happening in a logical manner. Or just get right to the fight at the end of the movie instead and make the fight last like an hour.

I will say that my 8 yr old was on the edge of his seat the whole movie, excited to see Batman but he kept asking me when they were going to fight. He said it was good but confusing and he liked the Batmobile. My 6yr old said he was sad at the way it ended. My wife said it was too confusing but didn’t care because Wonder Woman saved the day.

For the kids? Yes, take your kids to see this movie they will like it just be sure you are prepared to explain things to them as they happen.

For the adults? Yes, go in with an open mind don't instantly compare this to the Avengers, if you do, you will not like it at all.

Thanks for taking the time to read. Leave a comment start a discussion.

May the 4th be with EMOJI Troopers

 

New Trooper Emoji's                                  Standard iPhone Emoji's

Happy May the 4th everyone. I have made some awesome Stormtrooper Emoji's because why not really. Who doesn't love Stormtroopers? Their faces are so cute. I decided to match them to the set of iPhone emoji's.

May the Force be with you!

Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 - March UPDATE

It's party time with a party update (no not hey join my party to play, but an actual party (fun time)). 

EA gives us our first PvZ GW2 update and the game has been out less than a month. Say what you want about EA they at least support their games after they are released.

Check out the full schedule here

http://www.pvzgw2.com/news/graveyard-variety-pack-content-update?sf44930358=1

Highlights include:

• Added new co-op/team vanquish map "Aqua Center" which may seem familiar, yet completely different!
• Added night version of the Great White North map to the Turf Takeover Playlist
• Added Hide n' Find missions to Backyard Battleground
• Added Bot & Pot Missions to Backyard Battleground
• Added unique character variant images to group HUD
• World Options now shows all friends playing the game, not just the joinable ones
• Added classic setting in options to change primary fire button (PS4 Only)
• Added Aim Sensitivity slider to now allow more precise control over aim speed (for PC this is broken up into both mouse and gamepad sensitivity)
• Added ability to select between hold button to aim or toggle button to Aim
• Added kick player option to the in-game scoreboard for easy access (player hosted modes only)
• Added difficulty to Pause Menu for some game modes
• Game Now defaults to common chat in Private Matches
• Added ability to view scoreboard while vanquished

Alawys be Gaming - Call Of Duty Black Ops 3 Specialists Vs. Marvel's Avengers

 =
Call of Duty - Black Ops 3 Specialists are the same as Marvel's (Movie) Avenger's

I was playing CoD - BO3 the other day and switching between different specialists and Noticed the Ruin and the Outrider look a lot like Thor and Hawkeye from the Avengers. And then I thought what about the rest of them and started looking yep they match up. But in order to be fair I only used characters from the movies because damn near every Marvel character in existence has been an Avenger at one point.
Now you could argue the point that well they are all Iron Man variant's. Well duh! They are all half robot but you have to consider personality and ability for it to work.
I had to leave out the Hulk because well there is sadly no equal to the hulk. Some you may question but who cares it's for KNOWLEDGE!

RUIN Vs. THOR

 Vs.  = SAME

They even have the same pose. I mean really Ruin special weapon is Gravity Spikes. The Gravity Spikes have a similar effect as when Thor does his hammer smash. Ruin and Thor are the same!

OUTRIDER Vs. HAWKEYE

  Vs.=SAME

Again same pose WTHeck! The Outriders special weapon is a super bow and arrow, and her special ability is that she can see enemies no matter where they are on the field. Outrider and Hawkeye are the same!

PROPHET Vs. NICK FURY

 Vs.  =SAME

The Prophet or the Nomad either be Nick Fury. I chose the Prophet because he seems to have the battle sense that Nick would have and the Glitch ability would be the same as Nick's maneuverability on the battlefield. Also the glitch maneuver is the only ability to really be considered a superpower by superhero standards. Also they both have crazy arsenal that can one shot kill. Prophet and Nick Fury are the same!

BATTERY Vs. CAPTAIN AMERICA

  Vs.   =SAME

Battery is an all around bad ass. And for all intensive purposes if there would be a battlefield leader it would be her. Her Kinetic Armor ability makes her superhuman for a short time, much like an invincible superhero. The only difference is her weapon but I guess if Cap carried a gun it would have to be invented by Tony and called the War Machine too. Battery and Captain America are the same!

SERAPH Vs. SCARLET WITCH

 Vs.   =SAME

These two are most similar with their back story. Family torn apart from war in their countries, yada, yada, yada. They have smiliar abilities in the Seraph can use Combat Focus to hone in on enemies that need to be taken down. Scarlet Witch uses a similar magic ability to take out enemies in Age of Ultron. Seraph has the Annihilator special weapon and SW can pretty much take down anyone similarly with her magic blasts. Seraph and Scarlet Witch are the same!

NOMAD Vs. IRON MAN

 Vs.  =SAME

As I said you can take anyone from the list and compare them to a type of iron man suit (boring). But the Nomad fits the Iron Man type the best. His ability and special weapon (H.I.V.E & Rejack) are Iron Man type strikes. H.I.V.E. sends out micro-bugs to kill and Rejack uses a type of mind/robot control on opponents. And the Nomad seems like the cocky type. Nomad and Iron Man are the same!

REAPER Vs. WAR MACHINE

 Vs.   =SAME

The only difference between the two here is one is a fully robot solider and the other has Brody inside, take out Brody and even remote pilot it and these two are the same. Reaper kind of looks like an Iron Man robot. Reaper and War Machine are the same!

SPECTRE Vs. BLACK WIDOW

 Vs.  =SAME

Come on these two are the same character give Black Widow a weird mask and they are the same character. Spectre has crazy electric knives in his arm and has an active camo ability. Black Widow has both of these abilities. Spectre and Black Widow are the same!

FIREBREAK Vs. ALDRICH KILLIAN

 Vs.  =SAME

Look I know Killian is not an Avenger but he is in the Avengers series of movies (Iron Man 3). But bear with me... Firebreak does not to me resemble a good guy his back story his abilities (Purifier & Heatwave) do not instill he is stable or fighting for justice. So fire ability and crazy experiments done to them they win worst combination of the group. However, Firebreak and Aldrich Killan are the same.


That's it all the BO3 specialists dissected from the Avengers Movies. Except for the HULK. I would have much rather seen a specialist transform into a giant "Hulkbuster" like character to take on the HULK's abilities rather than a dumb fire guy. Well they already had GIANT Zombie DLC maybe we will get a GIANT specialist to fight them with. On the flip side I thought if you made a CoD game with Marvel superhero's that would be a cool game.

Thanks for reading!
Mike

here is a list of links from whence I ascertained my images from, thanks to all.
http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/War_Machine#Call_of_Duty:_Black_Ops_III
http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/marvel-news-nick-fury-two-films-check-marvel-studios-schedule/
http://www.trendlifemagazine.com/2013/03/27/thor-the-dark-world-news/
http://www.hdwallpapers.in/walls/hawkeye_in_the_avengers-wide.jpg
http://deadline.com/2014/04/box-office-captain-america-smashes-april-opening-record-with-90m-to-95m-or-higher-estimate-for-disneymarvel-710177/
http://www.ibtimes.com/avengers-2-spoilers-7-things-know-about-scarlet-witch-age-ultron-1864934
http://www.blastr.com/2014-5-21/look-out-war-machine-us-govt-getting-ready-unveil-its-iron-man-project
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/iron-man/images/11234828/title/war-machine-wallpaper
http://hdw.eweb4.com/out/1102350.html
http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/A.I.M._%28Marvel_Cinematic_Universe%29

Always be Gaming - Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 - Review

Video credit from ZackScottGames

Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 (PvZ-GW2) is the best, fun, multiplayer game since ever.

For Electronic Arts (EA) it has been a rough relationship with players the past few years. And to all the players hating on EA lately, I say to you, play PvZ-GW2. This game (including the first) is the most fun I have ever had playing a multiplayer game. The majority of the players are kids, as it should be, but there is enough fight in the game for older gamers to appreciate it too. My other gamer friends are always like I need a game to distract me when I want to take a break from the 2 or 3 "main" games I am really concentrating on playing. I give you your game distraction PvZ-GW2. In GW1 there was multiplayer vs multiplayer and then multiplayer vs npc modes (lack of modes didn't matter GW1 is hella fun). GW2 has stepped its game up offering more modes and more character options than before.

Setup

You will start the game with 7 character classes on each side plants and zombies. Each class has variants of the "base" character that you will unlock with a combination of leveling up, collecting coins (in game currency), and buying "sticker packs". You can customize each character with accessories you collect in sticker packs. Each character within each class has it's own XP (leveling up) system. Your goal is to level up each character doing many different tasks that will earn you XP. The higher you get each character the higher your player rank becomes. As a character levels up they will be able to equip stronger abilities and attacks.

A big improvement over the last game is the XP level up system, the last game had an overly complex level up system that gave objectives to do in game but you have to be really good at completing tasks or just OCD about it to get all the characters leveled up. Now it's straightforward play the game get into fights and level your character up as you play no matter how you do it.

 

Characters

There are 14 character classes total with at least 5 variants within each class. Variants are specific to the character but a good example is the classic Peashooter. The standard has a basic exploding shot and two of the variants, one is an Ice Pea which has an ice shot that can freeze enemies with enough shots, another is the Fire Pea which has a fire shot which can catch an enemy on fire and continue to inflict damage for a short time.

The characters are well designed from the original game and play well with one another. There is enough variety that you will easily find a favorite on both sides.

Backyard Battleground

Battle ON
A new feature that we have to the multiplayer genre is an instant battle feature. Your home screen and all your play options are located in a place called the backyard. The backyard consists of the two sides Zombies and Plants and you can switch to either side you want to play on anytime. In the middle of the two backyards is the backyard battleground where you can start the game at any point with no extra load screens or boring choosing what I want to do. You can jump in the middle and be in a battle without doing anything. There is a capture the flag mode in the middle of the field you can activate and it will give you an endless battle to see how many waves you can complete before having the flag position taken from you.

Hot Rod Chicken Needs to Fix his Ride

Single Player / co-op
In a single player mode there are quests, missions and trophies all around the backyard that you can do. All I need to say is "Hot Rod Chicken"! Quest Board and the instant backyard battleground are a nice way to add more single player action which the GW1 had none of.
Co-Op mode is pretty robust for a non co-op game you can join with a friend with a second controller and you can run around together or pick opposite sides and fight it out for no reason. However, the co-op mode doesn't really serve a purpose in online multiplayer this would be one area I would like to see flushed out a little more.
Online Friend play - Friends can join parties and follow each other in any part of the game they want this is an unlimited option to the co-op mode. However, it seems to be missing a play with my friend element, As my son was playing with his friend and said let's play tag. As they developed the rules of "tag" I thought this would be a great addition to any online friend play game like a game you can just play; tag, hide and seek, freeze tag and so onto any school yard game you can think of.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer experience is where EA does a good job of handling players fighting each other, agree with me or not, they do. GW1 & GW2 use the Battlefield Engine (same as Star Wars Battlefront) and the same type of server handling which makes for consistent server time, not much lag and large scale battles on fairly large playing fields. There are 4 standard modes at launch to start with, each mode has 6 map rotation, some maps mirror the PvZ app game (like sands of time). The lack of multiplayer modes is a little disheartening when you see some other multiplayer games with 10 or more standard modes and more map variations. The maps however are detail laden with a bunch of funny references to all things plants or zombies. Sometimes wandering the map is more fun than playing the game.

Graphics/Development
Based on the Battlefield engine GW2 does a good job on improving it's own graphical abilities from GW1. The characters look and feel a little more "cartoon real" which means they look like their cartoon counterparts but have real behaviors. They did a great job in GW1 bringing 2D characters into a 3D world now they have expanded the 3D world and made it all come together with great art direction and game development. This is how you bring a 2D game into 3D.

DLC / Downloadable Content
While EA has said there will be downloadable content, it will more than likely be new characters and a new multiplayer mode. Let's hope they don't start making weapons patches and kill perfectly good weapons like they did in Star Wars Battlefront.

GAME SCORE
WINNER
The best part about this now franchise is that it is a game that does not take itself seriously while at the same time actually giving us a serious game to play. The characters are funny, the environments are more funny and now we have NPC's with dialog that is even more funny still (HOT ROD CHICKEN). The game could easily be stripped out of all of the humor and the characters could all be 6' humans with real weapons and you would have a serious Battlefield 5 game. And as a dad I feel ok about letting my boys play a shooting game knowing that I do not have to worry about swear words and gallons of blood everywhere. The game delivers a solid multiplayer shooter experience but stumbles a little bit with first time single play options, the instant play is fun but gets boring quickly if you don't have a goal to achieve. Co-Op mode is still limited and play with online friend feature is fun but lacking some features. The comedic elements of the game and the solid shooter action keep me playing even after I have been vanquished by the same purple cactus six times in a row.

UPDATE:We found a playable soccer field on the plants side of the backyard. PEA SPORTS

visit. http://www.pvzgw2.com/ for more information - This is not a paid for article advertisement

Thanks for reading!

Mike Fischer

PSN ids - big_fisch & fischcraft

Steam id - sniper_fisch

Xbox id - indypodcast

Twitch - big_fisch



Always be Gaming - BLACK OPS 3 - Review

Thanks Emo-XPie for providing the video - check him out on youtube.com

 

Call of Duty - Black OPS 3 (COD-BO3)

COD is a series that has been around for a while now and BO3 has been out since Oct. 2015. There are many reviews, re-reviews and update reviews since it has released. As my favorite FPS dating back to COD #1 & #2 I purchased BO3 day one edition when it hit the shelves wanting to give it a proper review. With many other games being played on my PS4 it sat around for a while because I was highly disappointed when I played COD-Advanced Warfare and played it for an hour and returned it from whence it came. There BO3 sat "calling" me to play it but I didn't want to be disappointed and I was not. Multiplayer games are fun and all but I still like playing through a good campaign, give me an objective a clear one, something to play for not just run stupid and kill everyone around me. There are many game modes to choose from which can lead to some player confusion and it seems like Activision is cramming everything all it's players want to do into one game. The best part as a parent and why I purchased the game was the ability to turn off all the foul language, adult content and blood. I can play the game with my kids knowing that they are not overexposed to all that adult stuff but they don't get left out at school because dumb old Dad said we couldn't play it.

 

Setup

Before I even began playing I spent eight hours in the customizing screen. Games should consider to give players all the options in the start of a game they can customize their weapons and junk how they want and then everything goes through a level up process. Instead of I have to unlock things or purchase things later. I forget to go back and add it to what I have because, I ALREADY SPENT EIGHT HOURS CUSTOMIZING MY STUFF YOU DUMB GAME.

 

 OR  = Same

 

Characters

Diving into the game you start with the characters. The characters have all been given superhuman "robotic" abilities. To me it is almost silly as a "old" COD player to play a COD game and be able to do totally unrealistic things, like super jump, wall run, mind control, or tiny robot attacks. This is the main reason I did not like Advanced Warfare, because it was way to unrealistic trying to be realistic. BO3 takes the unrealistic not so seriously which is why it is a more playable game. However, with all the superhuman abilities, I get the feeling that I should just be playing a superhero game. This would translate to a Marvel Avengers game, you could choose Iron Man (Robot), Captain America (Super Solider), Hawkeye (Bow / Super Sight), Thor (thunder strike), or Black Widow (Assassin). Activision is hurting for dollars and the gamers want a good superhero game, enter, COD - Avengers.

 

Campaign

There are two story modes to BO3, both of which are completely confusing. There is too much tie into why I am half robot in the story. The Nightmare story is all about why we are robots and are being possessed, now we have to fight Zombies. Wait, why didn't they just tie the two nonsense stories together? Seriously the missions were fun to play and the acting was better than average but the story was to confusing and I skipped most of it. The mission were fun though fast paced on rails most of what I would expect from a good COD game.

 

Multiplayer

I do like how the multiplayer is divided up into a standard and zombie horde game. This gives players the advantage to play what they want within BO3. The multiplayer formula in COD games is kill. That's it just kill even in the games that have objectives you don't really get points unless you kill everyone in your path and then trash talk the other persons mama after. The maps are small and certain places are completely unreachable even when they should be. I should be able to jump and run on top of a building or that rock mound, nope. It is a cheap way of shortening the map and keeping the action fast and everyone in kill mode. This way of programming worked for games like Goldeneye when we had only 4 controllers max and limited game cartridge space. Multiplayer maps should be getting bigger not smaller. But I will save my soapbox for another game. COD multiplayers love this type of multiplaying, small, kill or be killed fast action that is in your face so for this game it works.

I do like that you can set up private matches and play co-op. You can choose all the features and any character and battle it out quickly without having to hear about my mama over my headset.

Graphics/Development
The graphics overall in the game are standard for this generation nothing really stood out as giving me a wow moment. I was disappointed also in the lack of destructible environments as that is quickly becoming a standard in games that can blow stuff up in. Not having destructible environments keeps the game at a constant pace of kill everyone, that COD players like. But still I do like to blow up random walls or vehicles.
 

DLC (downloadable content)

I am not a fan of DLC just give me the whole game when I buy it the first time. But I understand the complexity of updating games so give me the updates for free I bought the damn game WTH. Or how about give me a game that is one price not six different games. What happens when I play a game with someone that has just bought the game three months from now.

"Hey want to play that new DLC that just came out."

"Nah man, I am not going to buy any of those, they look dumb."

This is the biggest problem with multiplayer games and DLC everyone has to have it or who cares. Everyone has the core game and will play in that.

Activision has released it's first maps from the Awakening DLC and it does not take away from the game but I am already running into friends that don't have the content.

 

Game Score

WIN

This game is a good mix of whatever you want out of a COD game. The developers literally packed everything players have wanted into this game. With some missed steps on the story-arc and weird super solider classes, the game is fast paced and doesn't take itself to seriously. The campaign and Nightmare mode give great single player action (and you can play co-op too). The graphics were good but I want to be able to blow up stuff not just other players. The addition of knowing that younger players play the games and adult control is great. The DLC add-on have yet to prove of any "added value" to the game.

 

Thanks for reading!

Mike Fischer

PSN ids - big_fisch & fischcraft

Steam id - sniper_fisch

Xbox id - indypodcast

A new website creativly directed by me at carpuller.com

I recently launched my first website and new product division as Creative Director at Schoellhorn-Albrecht Machine Co., Inc. In June 2015 Management gave me the task of developing a new website with our website marketing company Captiva. With my direction Captiva designed and coded a new website with dynamic scaling for our Railcar Product Division. I also worked with management to Brand it as a new product division to diversify the company and separate it from our main product line of marine equipment.

Please check out the new site at http://www.carpuller.com

Check out the main site I maintain daily at http://www.schoellhorn-albrecht.com

If you want to know more about the process of working with a marketing company or how to create a new brand from an existing one, email me or leave a comment below.