Up late talking games & writing? You're...

Games: Just finished God of War: Chains of Olympus on the PSP a few minutes ago. It's a short, smooth ride that packs a lot of action and intensity without ever resorting to a lot of filler or tedium. As a result, it can be beaten in about a day, but I'm not complaining… I'd much rather have polished experiences of this caliber than the sort of game that drags its feet and chokes me with busy-work just for the sake of lengthening completion time.

It's a top-notch product with incredible production values and smart design. The developers behind it (Ready at Dawn) are absolute wizards when it comes to programming on the PSP. The game was so good, I would have sworn I was playing a PS2 for most of the adventure. If you're looking for a jawdropper that can really demonstrate what the PSP is capable of, this would absolutely be one to show to a friend.

Besides the fact that it's just a fantastic portable game, I also want to give props to Ready at Dawn for finally doing what Sony’s Santa Monica Studios has been incapable of in the last two GoW games—giving main character Kratos a shred of humanity and actually making me feel something for him and for what he's going through. It wasn't much… I mean, I'm not talking a tearjerker here, but it was something… good show, folks. Recommended.

My review of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is also up at GC, you can check it here. Let the hate mail commence! ; )

Movies: With the recent (and well-deserved) success of Iron Man in theaters, apparently Marvel Comics has just announced a slew of upcoming films. Jamie Kendall in Minnesota sent me the link (thanks!), and coming soon to a theater near you are:

Iron Man 2 (no surprise there), the Avengers, Thor, Captain America, and…. Ant-Man?!?

There’s still plenty of material to mine when it comes to Tony Stark, but the rest of these seem like they might be an uphill battle. Captain America has already bombed at least once that I know of, and the Avengers aren't exactly a team that the majority of America is likely familiar with. Personally, I don't think they have the cachet that the X-Men did, but we’ll see.

As for the others, Thor seems like sort of a bizarre choice. Crippled doctor by day, Norse god by night (or whenever) feels a little outdated conceptually, so I’ll be curious to see what kind of new spin it’ll get. Ant-man… well, last I checked, Marvel had about 48,000,000 *other* heroes who seem like better choices to star in a film, but maybe it’ll be more kid-friendly, or maybe heavier on the Sci-Fi than the heroics to create something like a newer version of Innerspace. (One of the best films, ever. Seriously.)

Anyway, I always knew comics were cool. It’s nice to see the rest of the world catching up.