Adrenaline Mob

So Mr. Mike Portnoy (formerly of Dream Theater, of course) assembled his very own super-group consisting of SYMPHONY X frontman Russell Allen, guitar virtuoso Mike Orlando (SONIC STOMP), bassist Paul DiLeo and STUCK MOJO/FOZZY axeman Rich Ward (copy and pasted from Blabbermouth).

On paper, this band should be kicking all sorts of asses and I am a huge fan of Sir Russell Allen. Unfortunately…

I present Exhibits A through C:

Their message seems to be “We like hanging out in abandoned industrial areas”*

And, really? Using the Godfather font for your logo?

Exhibit D:

Adrenaline Mob - Album Teaser - 2011

Well, that was, how you say, GENERIC. Not half bad but generic and underwhelming.

Never mind chest thumping quotes like:

  • “Even my wife, who’s been through it all with me, says it’s the best stuff she’s ever heard me play on. I played in DREAM THEATER for 25 years, plus some other pretty decent bands including AVENGED SEVENFOLD, so that’s really saying something.” – Portnoy
  • “This band is not in the vein of SYMPHONY X or DREAM THEATER. It’s more along the lines of, say, ROB ZOMBIE, GODSMACK, DISTURBED, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, SHINEDOWN… with Russell‘s absolute pipes from hell and Mike just outright killing it on the kit.” – Orlando (come on! Disturbed?)

I just don’t foresee great success in this band’s future, but I’ll be glad to be proven wrong

* of course, most rock bands want to be taken seriously so goofing off on camera is taboo. Admittedly, goofing generally only works well for Devin Townsend.

Can’t buy taste with money

For only €800, you, too, can put a fine piece of gauche consumerism into your pocket! Features: a sapphire crystal home button and 18-carat gold trimmings backed by Scottish leather from the “finest Caledonian herds”! Oh, it also has some trifling nonsense like 3.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen and an 8-megapixel camera with 720p HD recording.

Introducing the Nokia ORO. Oro being Italian for gold in case you have the observation power of a mollusc and fail to see the sheer blingyness.

While the technical specs aren’t poor by any means, it is “powered” by Symbian. Which was a fine mobile OS in its day back in the mid 00s. So, something for the more money than sense crowd.

Photo source: CNET UK

Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition

Here’s a new idea, an anniversary limited release of a computer game.

Bethesda is releasing a 5th anniversary limited edition of Oblivion, which comes with Oblivion GOTY edition (wot? no DLCs still? I want my horse armour dammit), a map, a “Making Of” DVD and a coupon for a 10 dollar discount for Skyrim, all in a sexy steelbook.

Overall, I’m thinking it’s a little shabby.

Since this is what should be the ultimate edition, why not pull out all the stops? That excellent soundtrack on audio CD would be nice, for one thing. The aforementioned DLCs wouldn’t be out of place either.

From here on I’m speaking for the PC version since I don’t care for console gaming.

What I would really like to see is some acknowledgment for what really made the game so successful and enduring: modders. Official integration of what I consider essential mods like the UOP and the supplementals and one of the DarN UIs (the default UI is nerfed for consoles, completely unbefitting of PC gaming) would have been fantastic and much appreciated. Of course, any potential copyright issues will have to be looked at but I’m sure the modders involved would be happy to have their work included in an official release, especially in a set so reasonably priced.

The game executable itself needs work. Essential tools like OBSE, Stutter Remover and Fast Exit should be integrated. The executable should be compiled with the LARGEADDRESSAWARE option enabled, no reason not to nowadays. Long standing problems like the Abomb should be fixed. What would have been really nice would be the backporting of improvements from the Fallout 3 engine such as the more efficient graphic rendering routines which results in the huge draw distances found in FO3. UI improvements like pressing “A” to take all items as in FO3 should be built-in too.

I just don’t find this a compelling package. The box is so pretty though.

Photos taken from nitrobeard.com.

Oblivion Mod Impressions: The Lost Spires

a Lost Spire

Basic premise, the Archeology Guild needs an enforcerbodyguard for their researchers and you’ve been hired. This quest mod is way more fun than it sounds though. Intrigue, ruins diving, ancient artifacts, basically be Dr. Indiana Jones in Tamriel.

Technically the mod is well implemented with some solid custom models and textures. The voice acting is perhaps a little uneven but more than adequate.

The story is well-written. This mod strays a little from the official established Elder Scrolls lore. I am usually a stickler for lore-correctness in my mods but here the additions are explained well and, in any case, the fun to be had more than makes up for it.

One thing I don’t like, though, is that the player becomes *gasp spoiler* the Headmaster of the guild at the end of the quest line. Silly stuff, considering the player is, in universe, said to have no archeology skills. I just don’t think it’s necessary to reward the player so. Even for the vanilla Fighters and Mages Guilds quest lines I would have liked the option of deferring the Master and Arch-Mage positions to Modryn and Raminus.

Grab it at the official website.

In which I embark on a journey and meet Lucifer and a cheeseburger

Deconstruction is the third in the four album Devin Townsend Project cycle and it has been leaked (check it out on YouTube). After listening to it I do believe the man has out-Ziltoided himself.

As promised, the music is brutal and complex and the story is ostensibly about “a man who goes to Hell and meets the devil. The devil eventually promises to show him the secrets of the universe and presents a cheeseburger to him. However, being a vegetarian, the man cannot eat the cheeseburger, rendering his journey pointless.”

Early reviews are very positive and I’ll add my voice to that chorus. It’s one fucking intense album. When the guest list was first announced I was a little worried at how many there are but even on a preliminary run through my fears were dissipated. The many guests are brilliantly featured, their voices contributing to and blending with that trademark Devin Townsend Wall of Sound. Floor Jansen’s (formerly with After Forever) turn on “Pandemic” is particularly awesome.

Production is fantastic as usual for Devin. He has announced his dropping out from the Loudness wars and good thing too. Finally a loud album I can crank my hi-fi for.

Listening to the album one thing is clear, Devin has been sober for years and it turns out it really wasn’t the drugs or alcohol. He really is insane. In a good, mad genius way though.

Can’t I just kill aliens and blow stuff up?

Bioware recently revealed Mass Effect 3 will have gay romance options for male Commander Shepard.

I have no problems with homosexuality in a computer game but given the seeming amount of effort and attention to detail involved it seems that it is at the expense of game play and storytelling. Worse when the relationship plots are so immature and poorly written. This smacks of Bioware trying to be edgy for its own sake which is stupid.

I hope it doesn’t turn out like another Dragon Age II which, to be fair, I have not played due to all the negative reviews and comments.

Oblivion Mod Impressions: The Blade of the Haunted

fear me, I've got glowy runes on my blade
Blade of the Haunted

A short but challenging quest. You won’t find quest markers to use as a crutch or hints in the journal entries on what to do next. The story fits with the official lore of the Elder Scrolls, which is something I like. The voice acting is mostly decent but jarring as quite a bit of dialogue is added to existing vanilla characters. Of course, you also end up with that sweet looking titular sword.

Highly recommended.

Find it at The Elder Scrolls Nexus.

Requirements: OBSE >= v0019

Not a Spinal Tap moment

Dream Theater will finally be revealing who their new drummer is in a series of videos posted on YouTube. The seven who auditioned are: Mike Mangini, Virgil Donati, Marco Minnemann, Peter Wildoer, Thomas Lang, Derek Roddy and Aquiles Priester.

From the first two videos, Mangini and Minnemann seem to be the front-runners for the job so far. Both of them are first-rate and will probably be good fits. From rumours going around the interwebs, it’s Mangini, but we’ll see I suppose.

This is a change that’s good for both Mike Portnoy and Dream Theater. As an old fan dating from the Images and Words days, I must say their output after Six Degrees has been generally underwhelming with what I consider to be less memorable songwriting compared to the earlier days.

Another big problem I have with the later albums is Mike taking a shine to some godawful rap/growl vocal stylings that he’ll stick somewhere on every album. I’m probably being petty, but I can’t stand it.

It got so that I preferred the various side projects the members participated in, such as An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess, the Mullmuzzler albums by Labrie and Frameshift’s Unweaving the Rainbow (speaking of which, Henning, we want Frameshift 3). Hopefully playing with a new drummer will get their creative juices again, and here’s hoping that Mike finds himself interesting new projects too.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Edit: Mangini got it. I thought Minnemann would have given the band a fresher sound and am a little disappointed, but still, both are excellent choices.

Dog Days – Truth in Advertising

Cat-people vs. Dog-people...ostensibly

A pink and girly Chocobo...sorry I meant Cellkull

Ninja Warrior - lame edition

Appropriate attire for war

The HUMANITY!

I was already regretting my decision to give this show any time at all before the OP sequence was over which is probably something of a record. The show itself did nothing to change my mind.

So, this show is about a mixed race Japanese school kid who gets summoned by the dog princess to be her champion in the battle against the cat people. The battlefield looks like an obstacle course which is perfect since our hero is a gymnastics otaku. The “fighting” results in no casualties, losers just turn into stupid looking spheres.

This is a dog of a show. Avoid.