Dwight Howard, Jerry Colangelo & Scoop Jackson on the Raptors Jermaine O’Neal trade
DWIGHT HOWARD, Orlando Magic: “J.O. is going to be very helpful for the Raptors. They already got Chris Bosh, he’s a low post threat and a jump shooter, there will be a lot of things with having a big centre is going to change how people play them. They will be a lot tougher then they were last year.”
Str8 Rippin Captures Halo 3 Crown at MLG Pro Circuit Toronto, Presented by Ford
vVv ReWriTTeN and TH3 NSAN3Z seize championship in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Vegas 2 and Gears of War events respectively
TORONTO, August 24, 2008 – Top ranked Str8 Rippin battled through a field of 138 teams to capture the Halo 3 four vs. four title on the final day of MLG Pro Circuit Toronto, presented by Ford. A featured event of Fan Expo Canada, MLG Pro Circuit Toronto, presented by Ford included over 900 professional and amateur video gamers from Canada and the United States vying for a purse of more than $70,000 U.S.
In the tournament’s other competitions, vVv ReWriTTeN captured their second consecutive MLG Pro Circuit title in the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Vegas 2 four vs. four event while TH3 NSAN3Z won the Gears of War four vs. four competition.
Str8 Rippin defeated third-ranked Instinct 6-2 in the Halo 3 final to earn the $20,000 U.S. first-place prize. The team’s victory was their second this season on the MLG Pro Circuit, following a win at MLG Pro Circuit San Diego in June.
In the finals of the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Vegas 2 competition, vVv ReWriTTeN blew by sixth-ranked New Era 6-1 to take home the $4,000 U.S championship cheque in the 26-team competition. The victory by vVv ReWriTTeN marked the first time that a team has won multiple Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Vegas 2 titles on the MLG Pro Circuit.
On Saturday, fourth-ranked TH3 NSAN3Z emerged for a field of 67 teams to earn their first MLG Pro Circuit title in the Gears of War event. In the finals, the Missouri-based squad defeated top-ranked Infinity 6-3 to capture the $4,000 U.S. first-place prize.
For a complete overview of the all the results from MLG Pro Circuit Toronto, presented by Ford visit www.mlgcanada.com or www.mlgpro.com.
The 2008 MLG Pro Circuit series continues from October 3-5 with the tour’s fifth stop, MLG Pro Circuit Playoffs in Dallas, Texas. The top teams from the Dallas event will earn a spot in the MLG Pro Circuit Championship tournament later this year.
Now in its fifth year, the MLG Pro Circuit has grown from a series of grassroots local tournaments into large-scale, sold-out competitions which attract the top pro gamers and thousands of players and spectators, with captivating live play-by-play broadcasts from each circuit stop. In 2008, ESPN.com is covering the entire Pro Circuit season with live reporting from each competition.
Vans Creative Director, Core & Syndicate, Tom Cook explains what sets them apart
How does the mind state differ when you are making a core and syndicate decision?
Syndicate, we definitely think of an older consumer. Someone who we feel led the progression of the skate industry and understands hardcore skateboarding as well as streets with fashion. We have people that come from both camps and some people will understand both. We tend to have a little bit more freedom. We don’t really cater to sales in Syndicate. We don’t respond to trends at all. All we do is try to create a product that we believe in and we think is dope. Versus core, it’s a little bit more commercial line. The two categories together, it’s above fifty million dollars, almost sixty million dollars at the end of 2008 globally. Core we have to think a lot more commercially. We have to understand buying and selling trends. You have to buy in and sell it through a level; understand the needs of customers better. We tend to merchandise lines with groups of key accounts to make sure their base is covered. As well as driving the line through the hardcore signature riders. We got a gnarly team of signature riders. There’s always that balance of trying to do a product that the signature team will back and want to represent and also balance with what the market wants. They are not always completely together. Sometimes you have to get the rider to understand what the market wants and vice versa.
Siren:blood curse PS3 review
SIREN: Blood Curse(PS3)
Sony Computer Entertainment has been making that extra effort to differentiate its own Playstation Network from its competitors (primarily Xbox Live). Currently free to all PS3 owners, it certainly beats the tiered pricing of Xbox Live. With the recent introduction of “Trophies” and in game XMB, it addresses one of the biggest disadvantages the service has had under Live (provided that support for trophies is at least provided on all future releases). Sony has also seemed to adopt the approach to download games of “quality over quantity”. They hope this becomes reality with the promises of yet to be released Home, casual games that hold a higher artistic value (flow, pixeljunk eden, flower, echochrome, etc), and fuller more robust download games that could be easily sold in stores (Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, Socom Confrontation, Tekken 5, Warkhawk, and Siren: Blood Curse).
Siren: Blood Curse has been heralded as Sony’s online experiment as to whether or not PS3 owners are willing to download games episodically as opposed to all at once (though available) or purchased on Blu-Ray disc (not available in North America but everywhere else). The game itself is a re-telling of the survival horror PS2 game titled “Siren” which received mixed reviews upon its release. The remake takes us back to the Japanese village of Hanuda re-told from the eyes of an American Television Crew and other visitors who have stumbled upon the events unfolding. Split in to 12 “episodes” the games allows you to guide a number of characters through various missions allowing you to see, play, and experience all points of views to this very atmospheric horror tale.
The Good
The game does a very good job of immersing yourself in a Japanese horror ambiance. From the eerie theme music, to the detailed character design of the different “Shibato” (the zombie-like enemies). Siren establishes an atmospheric mood throughout that’s subtle yet very uneasy. The thorough graphics of the character expressions and the environments around them contributes greatly to this.
The story telling of each character and point of view is also done very well. To assist in each character’s story, Siren: Blood Curse has included an archive system that includes various reference articles (that you can collect throughout the game) from voice mail messages to personal diaries that help contribute to the back-story, mood of the game and compliments the cut scenes very well.
With the game being split up into 12 episodes, with multiple characters and story lines, the structure of the game ties surprisingly well with one another. Each episode begins with a re-cap of events you’ve already played through with the different characters and ends with a trailer of the next episode. This makes the whole episodic approach much more appealing giving you the feel of playing through a gripping TV Miniseries of sorts.
As with the original Siren, each visitor to this strange town is granted a gift of the “Sight Jack”. This is the ability to see through the eyes of anybody (friend or foe) allowing you to track and find your colleagues, or help avoid and sneak past the Shibato. The game also provides various weapons that can be used by specific characters each with their own finishing maneuver. Every different weapon can be tracked and charted creating the incentive to try all the weapons (and discovering all the finishers) in the game thus increasing the replay.
The Bad
With this being a download only game in North America, the whole game is about 10GB altogether making it nearly impossible to hold all 12 episodes at once in your hard drive, especially for an active gamer. A lot of download management has to be taken in to consideration. Even if you purchase all the episodes at once, you still must download each episode separately.
Siren: Blood Curse (especially in the first half of episodes) can also get very linear. The game play leaves no room for exploration. It also provides you with an automatic checklist of things to do in the mission with generally only one specific path to get there and do the action. In some segments of the game, even if there is only one specific way to complete a task (i.e. “Hide” or “Go there”) in a mission, it can get a little frustrating as the certain point of action can be difficult to find resulting in various trial and error scenarios.
In addition, even though the game looks like a next-gen console game graphically, the engine does seem a bit dated. With games these days having full 3D environments to allow you to walk anywhere you please, it gets annoying when you try to walk certain paths outdoors with no obstructions to block the way only to walk into invisible walls.
Here’s The Deal
Siren Blood Curse is a great survival horror game that does well to differentiate itself from mainstays such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The story has a Japanese atmospheric horror approach and is intriguing and enveloping in its own unique way. Even the episodic approach adds an extra quirk to the whole story.
The game play can at times get a little frustrating sometimes leaving you with the feeling of just following the games orders by pressing “X” where they want you to, to allow for the game and story to progress.
However, if you’re patient enough and/or have enough room on your PS3 hard drive to at least manage the download process, this game is more than enough to hold you over until the next survival horror game comes along.
7/10
SEAN CAPISONDA for www.consolecreatures.com YOUTUBE: consolecreaturesTV
Canada’s true native sons, Team RezOfficial
Who is Team Rezofficial? Where are you based?
Team Rezofficial is a 5 man collective consisting of 3 MCs and 2 producers. Hellnback, Drezus and Tomislav handle the MC duties while Jay Mak and Stomp handle most of the production duties. The group members are currently all over the western provinces – Hellnback is originally from Hobbema, Alberta but is presently based out of Vancouver, BC, Drezus is originally from Ft. Quapelle, SK, but is currently residing in Winnipeg, MB, Tomislav is based in Winnipeg, MB, and Jay Mak and Stomp reside on the reserves surrounding Hobbema, Alberta.
How did you fund the new album project?
Recording for the new album – “The World (And Everything In It)” was handled primarily through Rezofficial Music, a grant from Factor, and Arbor Records.
What is the significance of your message?
The ‘message’ that we try to get across with our music is that if you want to be successful in life, it’s there for the taking. Whatever you dream of, whatever you want, is at your fingertips as long as you have the ‘get up and go’ to get it. It’s significant in that we’re a minority in this industry – but have achieved a lot of the goals we set for ourselves (so far). We personify the idea of going out and making something great happen. We’re all fans of true hip hop music so to be able to create what we see as great music, and have the channels to get it out internationally – is our dream. We prove that in this industry, it doesn’t matter where you come from, as long as you have quality, a great team, and some business sense, the sky’s the limit.
Describe a typical day on the reservation?
A typical day on the reservation is exactly like how another day would be just about anywhere else in Canada. People get up, go out and make ends meet. And just like anywhere else, with the good comes the bad.
What does it mean to be Canadian?
Being ‘Canadian’ means being the strongest you that you can be without being impolite haha No, being a ‘Canadian’ group means showing the world that just about anyone has the opportunity to make big things happen up here. If you’re a struggling artist, there are so many programs and grants that you can apply for to help your career get a jump-start in Canada that we’re SURE people would kill for anywhere else in the world.
Is there a tour in the works?
There is a tour through Western Canada to Ontario for late-September early October. We’ll be posting the dates up on our website http://www.rezofficial.com and the Team Rezofficial Myspace (http://www.mypsace.com/teamrezofficial) and Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=729205295#/group.php?gid=5930921094) as well.
Where is the music available to sample, purchase?
The music is available to sample on our Team Rezofficial Myspace – http://www.myspace.com/teamrezofficial, the Rezofficial Music website – http://www.rezofficial.com, the Arbor Records website http://www.arborrecords.com, and our album is in stores nationwide.
How can people contact you?
Everyone is welcome to add us as their friend on Myspace – http://www.myspace.com/teamrezofficial. We check out people’s music on there regularly and welcome anyone to hit us up with messages on there – we normally respond within a few days. Also, we have a Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=5930921094. For bookings hit up the phone number on our http://www.rezofficial.com website.
Buju Banton Sings “American Prayer”. Icon Appears In Music Video Supporting Barack Obama
Buju Banton, one of Reggae/Dancehall’s most celebrated artists was recently invited to be a part of Rock legend, Dave Stewart’s new video,”American Prayer.” The song, which was written by Stewart and U2 frontman Bono in support of Democratic Presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama, also features the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Macy Gray, Beyonce,Cyndi Lauper, Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, Joan Baez among others.
Scott Seine, a representative from Stewart’s camp spoke of Stewart’s decision to involve Banton, saying, “We reached out to artists/actors that we knew were Obama supporters, but regarding Buju, Dave is absolutely in love with Jamaica and Dancehall culture music, so it made sense to reach out to one of its biggest stars.”
Accoring to Stewart – who has written for Shakira, Gwen Stefani, and others – the inspiration behind the “American Prayer” clip came from the lyrics: “Bono crafting the words in a way that would make people think about the fact that ‘ America ‘ as a concept was a truly great idea, based on the bedrock of equality – yet something had gotten lost along the way, something had gone awry. I found it more pertinent than ever to release it now; to the moment America finds itself in, daring to re-imagine itself and its place in the world.”
The “American Prayer” music video will launch virally on August 14th and later air on the ABC’s,The View, Thursday, September 18th, during Stewart’s guest appearance on the popular morning talkshow.
TORONTO FC STAR MAURICE EDU NAMED THE NEW FACE OF EA SPORTS FIFA SOCCER 09
Edu To Become First MLS Player Created as Customized Mii™
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that Toronto FC star Maurice Edu is taking his game to the cover of the world’s most popular soccer videogame* where he will join Brazilian International Ronaldinho and Mexican national team goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa as cover athletes and spokespersons for EA SPORTS™ FIFA Soccer 09 in the United States, Canada and other regions in North America.
Edu will also become the first and only Major League Soccer player to appear as a customized Mii™ character exclusively for the Wii™ home video game system in FIFA Soccer 09 All-Play. EA SPORTS has created a unique version of Edu and his character will be playable alongside some of the world’s biggest soccer stars, including Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney, Franck Ribéry and others— all created as special Mii characters exclusively for FIFA Soccer 09 All-Play.
“I got a kick out of my Mii because it looks like he has a lot of fun on the pitch and he’s capable of pulling off some wild moves,” said Edu. “It’s fun to take control of my character and blast outrageous shots on goal with a flick of the wrist. I’ve never played soccer like this before.”
One of the rising stars of MLS and the U.S. Men’s National Team, Edu is in his second season with Toronto FC after being selected first overall in the 2007 MLS Superdraft and then being named MLS Rookie of the Year. Edu has earned caps with the US National Team and is currently training with the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team in Beijing. The 22-year-old midfielder was born and raised in Fontana, California, and prior to joining Toronto FC, played three seasons at the University of Maryland, winning the NCAA National Championship in 2005.
Earlier this month Edu participated in a body motion capture session with the EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 09 videogame development team at EA Canada in Burnaby, British Columbia. During the session Edu’s body movements, individual moves and playing style were captured and digitized, and will become the life-like movement of his virtual self in FIFA Soccer 09 and future versions of the game.
Guillermo Ochoa, the popular goalkeeper for the Mexican national team and Club America of the Mexican Primera Division, is appearing on the game’s cover for the second straight year. Ronaldinho, one of the most talented and recognizable athletes in the world who now plays for AC Milan, is appearing on the cover in North America for the fourth consecutive year.
This year EA SPORTS is changing the way sports games are played online by becoming the first sports videogame to enable up to 20 individuals playing fixed positions to play a single game of FIFA Soccer 09 at the same time. Instead of thinking as an individual player now you have to think and play as a team in Be A Pro: 10 vs. 10 Online Team Play for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system.
To learn more about FIFA Soccer 09 visit www.FIFA09.ea.com/us.