The Future of Gaming

Square Enix initially planned a low-key E3, showing Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS, Final Fantasy Dimensions for iOS and Android, and Final Fantasy XIV version 2.0 for PC and PS3. What is quickly becoming the highlight of E3 2012, however, is their tech demo for next-gen systems, the Luminous Engine. Similarities are being compared to the Final Fantasy VII PS3 Tech Demo, although Square Enix once again emphasizes that Agni's Philosophy was just a tech demo, not an actual representation of what Final Fantasy XV might look like.


Despite SE not announcing a new game, the demo for the Luminous Engine is spectacular. It seems that in every console generation since the PS1, what was considered CG movie graphics becomes the next generation's gameplay graphics. Final Fantasy VIII's CG movies wowed us back in 1998, while Final Fantasy X's gameplay looked like one giant FF8 movie. FF10's CG movies were incredible, but FF13 again looked like one long FF10 CG movie. It's pretty clear now that the amazing visuals seen in Beyond: Two Souls will be child's play in the next generation of games.

My Thoughts on Alan Scott Being Rebooted to Be Gay

DC knew what they were doing. The news of "The Green Lantern is gay" has appeared in the news and has been reported on lazily. Most media sources show headlines of just "DC Comics' Green Lantern is Gay" without clarifying which Green Lantern it is, only the Associated Press clearing up early on that it is not Hal Jordan, nor any other member of the Green Lantern Corps., but instead the Golden Age superhero, Alan Scott. Their strategy has worked perfectly, as seen on TMZ Live today. TMZ showed an image of Hal Jordan to get their audience to know who they were talking about, but people on staff clarified that the gay Green Lantern is not the one featured in last year's Green Lantern and that Alan Scott once had a gay son. HLN's website also used an image of Hal Jordan, although they clarified that it is not him who is gay.


It's an interesting strategy, getting people to investigate which Green Lantern it is that is gay, discovering that there is an alternate universe where there is only one Green Lantern and with the absence of Superman, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman, he is the world's most powerful superhero... and he's gay, possibly leading people to go buy Earth 2.


It's not going to work. Non-comic book fans see the move as tokenism, making the character gay for the sake of making him gay, with no substance. Others who hate homosexuality just plain hate the move for obvious reasons. Comic book fans hate the move because of the cop out of making a character from an alternate universe gay. Probably the only people who actually like the move are writer James Robinson and DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio. Robinson was a writer for the book Starman, about another gay superhero.


Dan DiDio is the man most well-known for saying Countdown was 52 "done right" and for angrily responding to a fan complaining that the New 52 cut down female creative talent from 12% to 1%, asking in an angry tone repeatedly in different ways, "who should we be hiring?" as if he were not aware of female writers and artists in the comic book industry other than Gail Simone (currently writing Batgirl) and Amanda Conner (fired during the New 52 relaunch). DiDio is also responsible for coming up with and overseeing the New 52, which has received mixed reviews, although the members of the Justice League have all received good reviews and great sales in their own comics, which is what DC is most concerned with, beating Marvel in sales.


I don't really care about Alan Scott being gay, I'm more concerned about his boyfriend. Gay characters haven't been handled well in comics, especially supporting characters without superpowers. DC, please don't kill off Alan Scott's boyfriend just to make him ANGRY AND FULL OF REVENGE, ok? He's supposed to be your flagship character of Earth 2, so make him likable in a good relationship, please.

The Golden Age Green Lantern is DC's New Gay Superhero

The Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott

The original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, who used a magic ring unrelated to the Green Lantern Corps. and is magical in nature with a weakness against wood, will be re-introduced in Earth 2 #2 as a gay character. In the old days, when the Golden Age superheroes were introduced to the fused universe of New Earth, Scott had 2 children, Jade, who later became a Green Lantern, and Obsidian, a superhero with shadow-based powers who was also gay, much to the disappointment of his father.


With Earth 2 getting its own revamp, the Golden Age superheroes will be getting reboot as well, with their ages returned to being young. They will also be getting new costumes and origins, which will offer a whole host of new superheroes for DC to work with and do basically whatever they want with them because they aren't the mainstream heroes  and some people may not be into the concept of Earth 2 anyway, thinking "why would I want to read about an alternate universe if these characters won't interact with the main universe?" If Power Girl and Huntress are any indication though, it looks like it will be possible for old-school Earth 1 meets Earth 2 superhero type moments, but DC will be doing a much better job of categorizing their infinite Earths thanks to much better data entry/storage today compared to the 1980s. The cover of Earth 2 #3 will tell the tale of Alan Scott's new origin story and features a partial view of his new costume.

The New 52 Alan Scott of Earth 2. He's also gay.

So DC Comics is Going to Add Yet Another Gay Character

As part of the "Second Wave" of titles in the New 52 to replace the cancelled titles, DC will be re-introducing an old character as a homosexual when they were previously straight. There is no word as to the gender of this character, nor how popular they were in the old DC Universe. I think this is a mistake. DC (and comics in general) doesn't have the greatest track record in its treatment of gay characters, the most notable exception being Batwoman, although she has largely been handled by the same people since she was introduced a few years ago. For those not in the know, Batwoman is handled very interestingly because as her secret identity of Kate Kane, she is a publicly out lesbian, kicked out of the military for its Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. As Batwoman, she purposely exudes sex and flirts with her enemies, despite the fact she isn't attracted to any of them.

That's one example out of all the gay characters that exist and have existed in DC Comics. Marvel's treatment is slightly better, what with Northstar recently getting married to his longtime boyfriend finally, but at the same time, Marvel also employed Orson Scott Card to write Ultimate Iron-Man stories. Card, most famous for writing Ender's Game and its sequels, is also known for being unbelievably homophobic and for making very incendiary comments about homosexuals.

The internet has been stupidly assuming that Batman is going to come out of the closet, but it must be remembered that the gay character will one that is not being featured in comics right now, although it is said that they are an "iconic" character, whatever that means. The entire Justice League has been introduced already, so who else could they add? Power Girl and Huntress have recently been reintroduced to the DC Universe, and I suppose it's possible to make Kara Zor-El or Helena Wayne a lesbian, but I don't see the purpose in that.

If you want to have a good read of gay characters in comics and their fates, I recommend you read WHO CARES ABOUT THE DEATH OF A GAY SUPERHERO ANYWAY?: A HISTORY OF GAYS IN COMIC BOOKS, by Perry Moore, author of Hero, a novel about a gay teen who becomes a superhero.

84th Academy Awards Nominees Announced - Hollywood Honors the Mediocre, Full of Major Snubs

Don't bother watching this year.

This morning, the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards were announced. Man, what a stinker 2011 was for movies... or so the Academy would like you to believe. The nominees in every category after the break, followed by Moviefone's list of biggest snubs.

Can We Stop the BCS Now?

Alabama just defeated LSU in the BCS National Championship Game, 21-0... by scoring 5 field goals and a rushing touchdown, while missing the extra point. Despite that, the quarterback won the offensive MVP. Defensive MVP honors went to some guy who record 1 sack and 7 tackles. Wait, what? Sports media will attempt to sell you that Alabama's defense was incredibly dominant by becoming the first team to record a shutout in the BCS NCG, but in reality LSU's offense was absolutely atrocious. QB Jordan Jefferson will never take another snap and will have to rely on whatever BS major he has. Head coach Les Miles decided not to bench him in favor of Jarrett Lee because of his past struggles against Alabama and his opinion that Jefferson is a better QB (total bullshit). This game was a snoozefest from beginning to end, only highlighted by LSU finally crossing the 50 yard line and Alabama scoring their first touchdown to run up the score.

Yep, I'm Making a Gossip Post

In October 2011, British comedian Russell Brand and Californian singer Katy Perry got married. Their marriage shocked most people in entertainment media who did not even know the couple knew each other. Many doubters of their relationship wagered bets that their marriage would not last a year, given how incredibly busy Katy Perry is with her concerts and Russel Brand with his comedy shows and film schedule, notwithstanding most insider's total inability to understand what, if anything, they had in common.


Well the couple in fact did last more than a year, but only by a few months. The couple has officially divorced and will both begin 2012 as single divorcees! This is wonderful news for pretty much any man between the age of 18-90 because now Katy Perry in her infinite weirdness is back on the market. Russell Brand is uh... also weird and I pray for the poor woman who has to listen to his voice on a daily basis.


Hey, it's a slow news day, cut me some slack Jack.


Update!: The Brands did not sign a prenup! Because of their wildly differing incomes, Katy Perry stands to lose A LOT of money.

The Greatest Sports Story of the Year

The man with the sourpuss look on his face is Sam Hurd. Hurd was undrafted in the 2006 NFL Draft, but was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys, where he played 5 unremarkable years and signed a 3-year contract with the Chicago Bears this past offseason. At this time, however, Hurd is now a free agent after being cut from the team. Normally, a player like Hurd would probably seek to play in the CFL at this point, but the circumstances behind the Bears cutting him from the team are absolutely hilarious.


On December 14, Hurd was arrested by federal agents after he attempted to buy drugs from them. Oh, but the story doesn't end there! Hurd was attempting to purchase (and then later distribute) between 15-20 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week. Hurd was attempting to purchase such massive quantities of these drugs at prices of $25,000 per kg of cocaine and $450 per lb of marijuana.


To make matters worse for Hurd, ICE traced a phone number to him that was on the caller ID of a drug dealing ring arrested in California earlier this year. Now why in the world would Sam Hurd have been speaking to drug dealers in California when he was in Dallas? Hmm... 


Needless to say, Sam Hurd is in some deep shit and will probably never play football again as he awaits swift justice and a lot of time in federal prison. It's not like he's Michael Vick or Plaxico Burress who were excellent football players sidelined by prison; I'd never heard of Sam Hurd until this absolutely hilarious incident.

C.J. Wilson is Fucking Psychotic

This is C.J. Wilson, "ace" pitcher for the Texas Rangers by default, since Cliff Lee decided to take his talents crawling back to the Philadelphia Phillies. Wilson was probably the most overrated pitcher in the American League last year (other than C.C. Sabathia), winning games mostly due to run-support.


This past season, C.J. Wilson achieved a feat so rare and infamous, that no one has ever accomplished it. He's the first starting pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball to lose the All-Star Game, an ALDS game, an ALCS game, and a World Series game all in the same season. Yes you heard right, the Rangers somehow made it to the World Series despite him and probably lost the World Series because of him.


Well now, Wilson is a free agent and he's going around team shopping. Allegedly, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of America of Earth were interested in Wilson until he (and presumably his agent) demanded a $100 million contract. Yes, $100,000,000 No one is quite sure exactly how many years this contract would be, but based on the fact that he is 31, he doesn't exactly have a lot of years left in him to be a starting pitcher. Let's assume he plans to pitch until he's 37 years old, where he transfers to a relief pitcher or closer role. That would be a 6-year contract worth $16.6 million per year. I may be alone here, but who the hell would pay a known choker $16.6 million per year? Yes, a lengthier contract would cause him to earn less money per year, but who honestly believes he's going to keep pitching into his 40s?


At this point, C.J. Wilson will either find himself on a poor team with a poor contract or not any roster at all. My guess is the latter, because until the revelation about the Angels, I hadn't heard of any team having any interest whatsoever in Wilson.

As Much As People Want to Lie, They're Still Nintendo Fanboys

According to Gamestop, upon availability, the limited edition of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which includes a golden Wii Motion Plus remote and a Music CD, became the #1 pre-order item at Gamestop. There are several games coming out soon, including Gears of War 3, Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and Mass Effect 3. Despite that, Zelda holds the highest rank.

People like to bash the Wii in public, but the sheer fact that Zelda looks to be the top selling game of the year is proof positive that the Wii is not quite dead yet and Nintendo placed all their eggs into one basket counting on Zelda to sell. It looks like they will have their way, based on how pre-order sales have gone.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword releases in North America on November 20.

Square Enix Tries MMOs Again With Dragon Quest X Online

Just moments ago, the creator of the Dragon Quest series revealed that Dragon Quest X would still be for the Wii, but would feature 2 big changes: an upcoming Wii U version with enhanced visuals, and online play. Whether this means DQ10 will be an MMO or simply online party play like DQ9, has yet to be revealed.

The real significant news though, is that Square Enix will be launching a 4th MMO, after Final Fantasy XI: Online, Fantasy Earth, and Final Fantasy XIV: Online. Square Enix has not received overwhelming success with online games, their biggest success being FFXI, which was only made online to recoup profits from the disaster of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Dragon Quest X: Online might receive better success online, owing to the incredible success of Dragon Quest IX and the Dragon Quest Monsters games.

This is a risky move, not only because of Square Enix's mild success with MMOs, but because this will be a console only MMORPG. The Tokyo Game Show is only 10 days away, so stay tuned for more major announcements from the world of video games.

Fraud at the Draft!

Tanguy Ngombo was selected 57th by the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. Two problems, however. For starters, Tanguy declared himself eligible for the draft with a slightly different name, Targuy. Although it may be the work of a typo, at this point it's unknown. But that's not the biggest problem. The Timberwolves drafted the Qatari under the belief that he was 21 years old. In reality, Ngombo is 26 and not eligible to be drafted. Yes, the Timberwolves drafted someone last night who cannot be drafted, wasting a draft pick due to NBA and Timberwolves negligence.

I want to see if the NBA reimburses the Wolves somehow, but the prospect of Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams both being in Wolves jerseys next season might be reason enough for management to not really care.

I Don't Know What the Fuck the Lakers Management are Doing Anymore

This offseason for the Lakers has certainly been a wild one already. The NBA Draft is only a few hours away, but the Lakers are looking to deal to get a high draft pick amid rumors that the Suns and Spurs were interested in the same strategy. There were initial rumors that the Lakers were looking to trade Pau Gasol to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for both the #2 draft pick and Kevin Love, but Lakers management later shot down the rumors saying that both Gasol and Bynum were off-limits. Saying Bynum was off-limits greatly discouraged me because that was a sign that Jim Buss is so obsessed with Andrew Bynum that he'd rather keep him than get Dwight Howard.

Next, the Lakers were actively pursuing trading Lamar Odom to get that #2 pick, but the Wolves said no. Trading the reigning 6th man of the year? What in the fuck is wrong with the Lakers? You don't trade a key part of your team to get fresh blood; the new champion Dallas Mavericks proved that, rejecting offers to trade Dirk and Terry and bringing back Jason Kidd. Thankfully the Wolves said no, because I don't think one rookie could bring the Lakers back to championship form. The Lakers need to dump Derek Fisher, every backup center, and get a solid perimeter shooter and a new starting point guard.

Outside of the players, the Lakers also made the questionable decision of hiring Mike Brown, former coach of the Cavaliers, long viewed as a being a coach who did nothing but the strategy of "Let LeBron Do What He Wants." That strategy worked in the regular season, but Brown has yet to prove he can coach a team in the postseason where he always fell short. Many expected either Brian Shaw or Rick Adelman to be the next Lakers coach, so the decision to hire Brown is downright confusing, especially since management decided not to get Kobe's input.

Lastly, it seems even broadcast announcers have not been spared the madness of Jim Buss' impending takeover from his father. Joel Meyers chose not stay as the Lakers TV play-by-play announcer amid displeasure that the Lakers worked harder to keep Stu Lantz and tried to push Spero Dedes to become the next TV play-by-play announcer. Things got so bad that Meyers and Lantz were not speaking to each other outside of games. After Meyer's departure, most thought that Dedes was going to become the next TV play-by-play announcer after having been the radio play-by-play announcer. But Dedes chose to broadcast Knicks games instead, returning home to his family, and opting for a looser schedule where he can continue to broadcast NFL games, something the Lakers weren't willing to do. Because of that, the new play-by-play announcers have already been announced: Bill MacDonald for TV and John Ireland for radio. Yes, JOHN IRELAND for radio.

Billy Mac is OK, he proved his credentials broadcasting Kobe's 81 point game and his numerous pre-game interviews with Phil Jackson. I wish someone better had been hired, but Mac is fine in the interim. As far as John Ireland, I hear enough of him on Mason & Ireland giving his idiotic opinions like "Derek Fisher shouldn't be traded and will come through when he needs to" and "I will walk home from Cleveland if the Lakers lose" and of course "Jim Buss is not destroying the Lakers." I'm going to say it outright, I hate John Ireland. He thinks the Lakers management can do no wrong and it's obvious Jim Buss wants him to eventually be the next TV play-by-play announcer despite him having zero play-by-play skills or a friendly personality.

What more can the Lakers do to fuck up? I guess we'll find out tonight at the Draft!