WWE Smackdown Lowdown - 5/25/2012

WWE Smackdown - May 25, 2012

What better way to open Smackdown than a recap of story lines that take place primarily on Raw?  Well, dozens, but you work with what you got, right?  A long winded package on the Cena/Ace/Big Show saga.  This, of course, takes precedence over both the WWE Title and World Heavyweight Title pictures.  Even the mention of the World Heavyweight champ relates to his bump into Big Johnny on Monday.

To start the show itself, Eve heads to the ring.  She sings Johnny's praises and announces that she has been placed in charge for the night.  Alberto del Rio is quick to interrupt and butter up Eve, but is quickly interrupted by Randy Orton.  After introducing himself to Eve, he suggests that the people decide who should be the number one contender, in the spirit of "People Power".  Before the vote can take place, Kane enters and says that Sheamus, a ghost, should have to face the Devil's Favorite Demon.  Also, this is Smackdown episode 666 and people cheer for this fact.  Weird crowd.  Eve does the only sensible thing and makes a triple threat match for the main event.  We're all supposed to hate Eve and Johnny, but they at least continue to make logical matches...that aren't always tag matches.

We get a recap of Christian's return at Over the Limit which segues into his entrance.

Match 1 - Christian (Intercontinental Champion) vs Hunico, non-title
Winner: Christian via pinfall

Pretty straight forward match.  They're still in the 'reintroducing' stage of Christian's return and he seems to have settled on a Killswitch -> Frog Splash finishing combination.  Cole still thinks the Frog Splash is new, because he apparently doesn't pay attention to anything that has happened more than a year ago.  Hunico is a great option for a match like this, because he's a heel who people are happy to hate and see get beat up and he's more than solid in the ring, which serves as a good compliment to Christian's varied offense.

Cody Rhodes comes out and says that after all the prestige he worked to restore to the IC title, Christian ruined it in one night.  Rhodes vows to recapture the title and re-restore the prestige to it; this should be a good rivalry both on the mic and in the ring.  Rhodes has improved in both facets substantially in the last year and Christian is just smarmy enough where he can say everything with a smirk and people love him.  I'm more than happy to see a few more matches between them.

Match 2 - Jimmy and Jey Uso vs Titus O'Neil and Darren Young
Winners: Young and O'Neil via pinfall

O'Neil and Young have indeed settled on the backbreaker/elbow drop combo like I predicted; it's the safest of the double team moves they've tried out and a variant on the classic Sidewinder.  The match was a bit short, but both teams hit hard and fast.

Courtesy of http://ilovewrestlinggifs.tumblr.com/

 
The crowd loves to chant along with the Usos, and after the backstage segment they prefaced the match with, that's ok; both teams were great for a laugh.  Not every wrestler needs to be super serious; both teams can do the silly, entertaining promo given the chance and they should get that chance more often than they do.  Good stuff all around.

Sin Cara returns next week.  If I had to guess, a two minute match against Hunico or Tyson Kidd just to reintroduce his offense.

Match 3 - Brian Edwards and Kevin Bendl vs Ryback, tornado rules
Winner: Ryback via pinfall

Ryback has two bursts of pyro in his entrance, and they show neither on camera; silly.  Ryback enters with a nasty black eye and busted capillaries; must have taken a bad kick at a house show or something.  The usual Ryback beatdown, including a spinebuster into a deadlift powerbomb that looked like a combo out of Tekken.  To finish, Ryback performs his Fisherman Buster on both men stacked up, which was pretty damn impressive.

No seriously; both at the same time.

Ryback still wants to be 'fed more', but after two months, I'd like to know what he means; they've provided absolutely no information on this men, which is enough to start him down the path to being boring.  Feed us more...information. 

Match 4 - Santino Marella (United States Champion) vs Ricardo Rodriguez, non-title
Winner: Santino Marella via pinfall

Ricardo does his own introduction and it would have been a travesty had he not.  Normally I'd complain about this being a 'waste' of time, but a comedy match isn't necessarily a bad thing; and this was a damn good one.  A few minutes of sillyness, followed by a Cobra and a three count.  The more time Ricardo gets on television, the better.  Very fun.

Sheamus comes out for his 'apology' to Big Johnny, which of course ends up with him calling Ace an arse.  Sheamus says that if he had his choice, he'd face Orton for the title at No Way Out.  Vickie comes out to introduce Swagger to face the champion, and the crowd gives her the business worse than usual.  Get that heat, lady!

Match 5 - Jack Swagger vs Sheamus (World Heavyweight Champion), non-title
Winner: Sheamus via pinfall

This match is the beginning of the obviousness that Sheamus is being groomed to be the 'next John Cena'.  Sheamus fights through outside interference and a hurt ankle (against a guy that uses an ankle lock) to finish the match with the Brogue Kick.  Which is a kick.  Which uses that hurt ankle.  The guy has two other viable finishers in the Celtic Cross and White Noise, but they elect to have him use the move that focuses on his hurt ankle.  The comebacks aren't quite at the Cena level yet and he's a bit more believable in the back and forth action, but continuing down this path is going to turn the same sect of fans that boo Cena against Sheamus.  On the positive side, this was just a poorly thought out end to an otherwise good match and Swagger was allowed to take the World Heavyweight champion to the limit.  He and Ziggler need to be on their own as singles wrestlers; Ziggler can talk a good game and is a hell of an athlete and Swagger is just the kind of guy to always be in contention for the IC or US title.  Either that or feed the tag titles to them while they're still together.

Match 6 - Yoshi Tatsu vs Damien Sandow
Winner: Damien Sandow via pinfall

Sandow says he's going to impart a lesson upon Tatsu physically and that it is for the good of both Tatsu and the crowd.  Sandow proceeds to squash Tatsu, delivering knees to the head, a smooth russian leg sweep and the same Cross Arm Neckbreaker he employed last week.  No name for it yet, but that will come...maybe.

Courtesy of http://ilovewrestlinggifs.tumblr.com/

Sandow does a cartwheel to celebrate and heads on his merry way.  Sandow had good banter with the ref in the ring; it's a little detail, but an important one for a pompous ass of a heel.

We are treated to a Raw Rewind, which amounts to this:

Big Show heads out to the ring to have a chat with the crowd.  As he is now a heel, he wears slacks, a shirt and a tie.  Because that's what heels do in 2012.  Big Show loves what he does; he loves to dominate people.  He says that he didn't sell out; instead, he made a deal.  Over the Limit was a ruse that he and Big Johnny perpetrated and at No Way Out, he'll KO Cena again.  He finishes by telling the crowd that he doesn't care about any of them and as he heads up the ramp, Kane begins his entrance for the main event.  Odd that Kane entered as Show left; they have a bit of a staredown, then Show leaves and Kane enters.  Then Daniel Bryan enters, chair in hand and proceeds to bash the bejeezus out of Kane's arm.  Repeated shots leads to Kane hurt in the corner as the other two men make their entrances.

Match 7 - Kane vs Randy Orton vs Alberto del Rio
Winner: Alberto del Rio via pinfall

The usual triple threat shenanigans, with one man out of the ring for most of the match to allow a singles match type of focus.  Bryan enters the fray late in the match to distract Kane, which allows Orton to hit an RKO, but del Rio tosses him aside and steals the pinfall.  Sheamus vs Alberto del Rio at No Way Out is your World Heavyweight Championship match.

As ADR celebrates up on the stage, Sheamus comes out and bashes him one in the back of the head.  That's your good guy champion; a back fighter.  That's also the end of your Friday night wrestling fix.

So Bryan continues the mini rivalry he's had with Kane, which hopefully doesn't go too far beyond tonight, as he needs to focus on CM Punk.  Perhaps at NWO, Kane somehow costs Bryan his title win, allowing the rivalry between he and Punk to continue inching closer to a blow-off at Summerslam.  At least this way, there's no need to hot potato the WWE title around for a bunch of short reigns.  Kane shared that odd stare-down with Big Show during his entrance, which was oddly placed.  Seems to be for a reason, which we'll hopefully see play out.  Sheamus cracked del Rio from behind to end the show, so that should generate a quick rivalry for them.  Hopefully next week, Ricardo gets to try again against Santino; I'm always happy for a laugh.  Seems like AJ's action has shifted to Raw; hopefully that's a good sign, as they don't tend to shift folks from Smackdown to Raw without at least some purpose.

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38 Studios Lays Off Entire Staff

The curtains have drawn to a close for 38 Studios. The studio which recently released Kingdoms of Amalur has announced a company wide lay off effective immediately. The game simply did not sell enough copies to keep the studio afloat. 38 Studios was not without controversy though. 38 was started by Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling a few years back after he saved the studio Big Huge Games from certain failure. Things were looking good until the state of Rhode Island decided the studios worthy to receive a $75 million loan. The loan was issued in the summer of 2010 to the struggling company and things once again seemed to be going well. On May 15th 38 Studios requested an emergency meeting with those in the Rhode Island legislature that gave them the loans. It appeared they had missed one of their $1.1 million payments. 38 studios was in over it's head and it had no more favors to call in or checks to cash. Citing an "economic downturn" was the reasoning given to employees on their pink slips.

Source: Kotaku

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Project M: Demo v 2.1 released

Here's an update for anyone who enjoyed our first look at the Project M Demo v2.0. Demo v2.1, which was released today, fixes quite a few freezes and bugs.

On top of that, a new stage has been added featuring Skyward Sword's Skyloft area, complete with Loftwings flitting about in the background.  There have been minor changes made to a handful of characters, but nothing quite as momentous as what we previously discussed.

Head on over to the Project M Download Page and nab the update but just be aware:  If you've spent time adding textures, skins and other various tweaks to characters or stages, this new release contains the entire folder structure, so be careful to backup your texture files.

We'll be back shortly with another look at a few more characters as we did in our opening article on the project - Planned are Wolf, Charizard and a quick revisit to Lucario.  If you have anything in mind that you'd like to see covered (or even filmed), be sure to let us know in the comments.

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[Video] Metro: Last Light - 'Enter The Metro'

If you've never played Metro 2033, that's a really sad thing to hear. With it's combination of post-apocalyptic misery and survival horror, Metro 2033 was a unique take on the first person shooter. 4A Games is now hard at work on the sequel, Metro: Last Light. The marketing machine begins with a very cool new short film called "Enter The Metro", which is remarkably well done. Check out this foreboding blurb:

Beneath the ruins of post-apocalyptic Moscow, in the tunnels of the Metro, the remnants of mankind are besieged by deadly threats from outside – and within.

Whoa. Watch the short film to get an idea how the world of Metro came to be. Metro: Last Light is currently set to release in 2013.



via: Enter The Metro

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Completely Random Episode 2: Coffee and Idle Banter

In this episode of Completely Random, Jon, Drew, and Chad discuss the effect of dating on video game play time, The Walking Dead Game, The Avengers, guns, the idea of a Justice League movie, and much more. Take a seat and absorb your sermon for the week.


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WWE Weekend Round-Up 5/18-5/21

WWE Smackdown, Over the Limit and Raw - May 18th, 20th and 21st, 2012

Let's get right into Smackdown; there's a lot to cover this weekend and I spent most of it playing Project M (http://www.thegeekasylum.net/2012/05/project-m-super-smash-bros-melee.html) because Smash Bros is almost crack...almost.

John Lauranaitis disagrees with the Board of Directors and asks for the crowd to say a prayer for him as he readies to face John Cena.  CM Punk comes out (because this is what the WWE champion needs to concern himself with, apparently) and says we've all gotten our prayers answered - John vs John at Over the Limit.  Because Ace is still in charge, he puts Punk against Kane tonight, because I'm sure he hopes that the champion gets hurt heading into a PPV.  THAT will put some fingers on the "buy" button, right?  Johnny finishes by telling the crowd to go to hell.  Alright then.

Match 1 - Kofi Kingston and R-truth (Tag Team Champions) vs Darren Young and Titus O'Neil, non title
Winners: Kofi Kingston and R-Truth via Pinfall 

Standard fare, with the exception of a very ROH-style bump with Young giving Kofi a belly-to-back on the ring apron.  Ouch.  Tag champs look strong going into a PPV defense with a clean win and the new guys weren't made to look like goofballs.  Fair enough.

Zack Ryder is recording his webshow on his iPhone when Damien Sandow walks in and casts a disgusted glance in his direction then heads to the ring.  I love Ryder in WWE but to be fair, if Zack Ryder wasn't a television character, I'd react the same way.

Match 2 - Damien Sandow vs Yoshi Tatsu
No contest  

Sandow comes out and does the same thing as last time; he shan't sully his good name by having a contest with an unworthy ignoramus.  Tatsu calls him chicken and clucks into the mic, and apparently that's enough for Sandow - he hits the ring and gives Tatsu a full nelson into the turnbuckle then drops him with a neckbreaker with both of Tatsu's arms crossed around his own neck (A straightjacket neckbreaker?).

 Sandow calls it a night.  The enlightened one, underneath his flowing robes, wears pink tights, purple kneepads, black elbow pads and white boots.  I do believe we have ourselves a colorblind gimmick on our hands.

Sheamus and Orton are in the back and have a back and forth, pointing out how each has a flaw and such.  Sheamus harnesses being a hothead, Orton used to be so overconfident he looked like an idiot.  Sheamus says he's a nice guy, Orton says that will be his downfall; we know nice guys finish.  Lots of words, didn't get anywhere.

Match 3 - Zack Ryder vs Daniel Bryan
Winner: Daniel Bryan via submission

Both guys get a great crowd reaction.  Ryder is the eternal underdog in WWE and the kids love him and Bryan is a bonafide wrestling star - he can make a crowd love him or hate him.  Bryan dodges a Broski Boot by giving Ryder a drop toe hold into the turnbuckle.  He follows with kicking the rope into Ryder's face, an execution kick and then the Yes!lock.  Short but sweet.  I enjoy Ryder in the ring, but I'm not a huge fan of his "get knees up to block and the guy falls into another corner for the Broski Boot" spot.  Little too contrived to happen all the time.  If that's the biggest complain to lobby about the action, though, I'd say they're doing a great job in the ring.

Speaking of complaints, Booker T emphasized in this match the educated feet of CM Punk, leading to the match at the PPV.  He makes no mention of how effective Bryan's kicks are, even after he damn near decapitated Ryder with a roundhouse.  Should just hit the SAP button during these shows...


Match 4 - CM Punk (WWE Champion) vs Kane, non-title
Winner: Kane via DQ

Bryan is on commentary and points out he and Punk being similar.  Punk kicks hard, I kick harder.  The Anaconda Vise is devastating, the Yes!lock is moreso.  Kane pulls out all the stops focusing on the midsection in this match - pendulum backbreakers, body scissors, bearhugs.  Bit odd, as if they wanted to play up an injured body part, Bryan's finisher is a shoulder/neck lock.  Punk lands a suicide dive on Kane and Bryan goes to hit him with a chair; Punk catches him, so Bryan whacks Kane in the back and runs like hell.  Punk picks up the chair and Kane catches him red handed, enraging him.  Kane attacks Punk with the chair and then chokeslams him twice.  In one action, Bryan cost his opponent the match and got his ass whooped two days prior to his title shot.  Brilliant psychological warfare.  No commentator makes mention of this at all.  They get PAID FOR THIS.

The cameras make it a point to show Punk selling his back/ribs after the attack; this will play into the PPV match.

We get the WWE rewind to the Punk/Santino vs Rhodes/Bryan match.  This of course means some of these guys will be involved next.

Match 5 - Santino Marella (US Champion) vs Cody Rhodes (Intercontinental Champion)
Winner: Santino Marella via pinfall

Told ya!  Santino is shown giving his belt puppy talk because he loves it so much in an inset interview.  Cody whiffs a moonsault, but avoids the Cobra with a dropkick.  Santino split-ducks under Rhodes on the return and lands the Cobra for three.  Having Champ vs Champ means somebody has to lose, but it's a shame to see a future World Champion drop to Santino in such a short match.  Santino's fun, he really is, but Cody needs to be built as a proper threat to other wrestlers and lately it just doesn't seem to be the MO.

The Raw Recap shows Big Show's blubbering and subsequent future endeavoring.  Then they show tweets about it.  Great.

Match 6 - Randy Orton vs Sheamus (World Heavyweight Champion), non-title

Pretty standard stuff from both men at the open, until Sheamus tries a Brough Kick outside and kicks the ringpost.  Orton goes right after Sheamus and focuses on the still-hurt arm.  Orton drops Sheamus with a single arm DDT in the ring and Sheamus tries the Celtic Cross, with Orton escapes.  The Cross is equivalent to the Lionsault at this point; it will always get countered or avoided.  Orton lands a belly to belly, which is pretty new for him.  Sheamus once again lands the Irish Curse with his bad arm and counters the RKO, leading to Orton ducking the Brough Kick and Sheamus landing a rollup for a quick pin.  Orton is less than thrilled and drops the champ with the RKO.

So, heading into the PPV, Punk is more concerned with Johnny Ace than Daniel Bryan, Damien Sandow refuses to wrestle again, the Intercontinental Champion is shown to be less capable than a sock puppeteer and the World Heavyweight Champion is even with at least one of his opponents.  Bit of an odd mix going into a PPV.  Without a doubt, Punk/Bryan will be a show stealer, as long as WWE doesn't shoehorn some nonsense in there to make it anything more or less than a great wrestling match.  AJ is still a bit of an X-factor; she didn't appear on Smackdown, but she's shown an interest in both competitors.  I'd still be happy to see a full on snap in the girl, but I'd hate to see it at the cost of the impending match.  Afterwards, sure, but let this match go and let the 'small' guys show what they can do and why the internet fans are so damn rabid to see them on TV.   


Speaking of being rabid to watch something, this brings us to the PPV with a match of the year contender and a main event that involved shrinkage.


WWE Over the Limit, May 20th, 2012

WWE seems to be liking this 30 minute Youtube preshow, as they have a match on it for the second show in a row.


Preshow Match - Zack Ryder vs Kane
Winner: Kane via pinfall

Hard to enjoy a match that you miss half of, since the stream on Youtube was having huge issues.  Kane counters a Rough Ryder into a chokeslam and pins Ryder.  Extremely standard and it's a shame to see Ryder on the Youtube preshow if they don't somehow integrate his own Youtube show which is what got him noticed in the first place.  We're at a month of Ryder not being on Raw; not looking good.

Match 1 -  People Power Battle Royal
Winner: Christian

It's no fun to read how a battle royal goes, especially a mediocre one.  Tyson Kidd did some cool stuff and Christian played the default face when Miz and Otunga double teamed him.  The only important facet here is that the winner got to pick either a US title shot or an Intercontinental title shot.  Christian selects the US title but changes his mind later in the night after some Rhodes trash talk.  Definitely not a match you need to go out of your way to see.

Match 2 - Kofi Kingston and R-Truth (c) vs Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler, Tag Team Championship
Winners: Kofi Kingston and R-Truth via pinfall

Again, a good match with nothing in particular to stick out aside from a couple creative moves - Swagger and Ziggler teamed up for a wheelbarrow facebuster and Kofi finished the match by kicking Ziggler out of mid air with the Trouble in Paradise.  Ziggler and Swagger continue to be losers and Kofi/Truth continue to be the face champs - it's the same as Kofi's run with Bourne.  Ziggler desperately needs to break away for good singles matches and be allowed to shine in ways that don't involve dangerous bumps.

Eve tells Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins to go take anti-Johnny signs from the crowd.  Nice to see them show up; both guys are pretty solid in the ring, and even though it might be a 'tame' version, it's always nice to see Reks drop someone with the Burning Hammer.

Match 3 - Layla (c) vs Beth Phoenix, Divas Championship
Winner: Layla via pinfall

The ladies got about 7 minutes here; 5 more than a normal Divas match.  With these two, I'd expect a good solid match; the pacing was good and they had back and forth offense but there were a bunch of mistimes, missteps and mistakes.  I'd like to see them get another shot to show what they can do together, but I'd still like AJ to pop up into contention for the title as she can be a solid worker.  Maxine from NXT needs to show up on the main roster as well; she has a good look and a great Dragon Sleeper finisher.

Match 4 - Sheamus (c) vs Chris Jericho vs Randy Orton vs Alberto del Rio, World Heavyweight Championship
Winner: Sheamus via pinfall     
  
Much like the battle royal, this type of match is hard to discuss without a good visual.  I'd recommend you find some way to watch this - There was quite a bit of good action in the 15 minutes the match lasted.  Sheamus wins on PPV with the White Noise, solidifying it as a viable alternate finish to the Brogue Kick.  We haven't seen the move in a few weeks.

Everyone else fired off most of their signature offense and a lot of the action involved only two men in the ring at a given time; makes it a bit easier for the crowd to focus on the 'important' action and WWE to draw attention where it wants to.

Match 5 - Brodus Clay vs The Miz
Winner: Brodus Clay via pinfall

This guy was the most must see superstar at some point.  Now he's splash-fodder

It was a Brodus clay match.  I've typed the same twenty words about these matches for two months now.  Miz danced before hand because, well...I got nothing.  Miz has fallen from grace and is now a repeat victim of Brodus Clay's splash.  You need a come down match, yes, so this serves that purpose.

Match 6 - Cody Rhodes (c) vs Christian, Intercontinental Championship
Winner: Christian via pinfall

Christian's back, he's your IC champ and he's apparently a face.  Rhodes has been booked like a goof the last couple weeks (big waste of talent) and Christian was a whiny face before he left (big waste of a potential proper turn).  Technically sound match, because both men can work like fiends, but Rhodes deserves better title runs.  Christian works better as a face; the crowd loves him and always has.  It just would have been nice to have an actual turn rather than "Well Cody was a jerk and Christian kicked his butt - he's a good guy!".  I love the old school IC strap that Cody has had for the last few months, but on Christian's tights it looks like an odd contrast.

Match 7 - CM Punk (c) vs Daniel Bryan, WWE Championship
Winner: CM Punk via pinfall

Here's my description for this match: Go watch this match.  If you're reading this, you likely know the outcome (well, I told you that part) and the 'controversy' surrounding it.  Regardless, watch the damn match.  The action was excellent, they gave the guys 25 minutes to tell their story and guess what?  THEY TOLD THEIR STORY.  Bryan didn't try to shenanigan his way to the title - He pushed the WWE champion to his limit by wrestling him.

If these two don't get an actual program, heading into No Way Out with a cage match rematch (Bryan wins via heel tactics, etc) and then a culmination towards or at Summerslam, it's a travesty.  Punk mocked Bryan at one point, mimicking his "I've got til five!" from the indy days; seemed like 7 people in the crowd got it, but those are the fans Punk did it for. This was everything a wrestling match should be.  AJ did not get involved, and although I want to see her get some screen time and figure into this storyline somehow and get some rub/benefit out of it, it was a great call not to have her influence the end of this even match.  I'm just going to keep showering praise, so let's move on...

Yes, this match gets two images.  It earned them.
Bryan steals his own spot from his rivalry with Nigel McGuinness

Match 8 - Ryback vs Camacho

What was that I said about comedown matches before?  Hunico was announced as the opponent, but Camacho wrestled.  Then Ryback killed him with the usual offense.  Ryback is squashing non-local talent now, but there has to be some forward thinking for him.  It's the same thing Brodus does without the fat guy, the dancing and the chicks.  When you type it out that way, Brodus definitely has a leg up on Ryback.  Standard squash, crowd got bored.

Match 9 - John Cena vs John Lauranaitis, if Lauranaitis loses he gets terminated

This amounted to Cena abusing Big Johnny for 17 minutes.  Consider this:  Four of the top superstars in WWE got 15 minutes to fight over the World Heavyweight Championship.  Cena got more than that to do comedy spots with Johnny Ace.  I'll admit the first little poof of fire extinguisher made me laugh.  Nothing else did.  Cena poured water down Ace's pants and apparently that caused shrinkage.  I shudder to think how Booker T knew that.

 
Logically, Cena is made to look like a complete boob - He could have gotten rid of Johnny by dropping him, pinning him in 30 seconds and then proceeded to abuse the old SOB.  But no, he had to play with his prey and then get punched in the mush by the now-heel Big Show.  Good job, John.  As they say on the indies:  You fucked up.

You deserve it John.  Cocky faces never prevail.

Almost there, folks...this leads us to Raw just one night later.  Mr John Cena is not a happy camper and he's eager to inform us.


Cena comes out and he is MAD.  It's not the 'how' of why Ace pinned him just one night ago, but the 'why' that's bothering him.  Cena defends his toying with Ace for 17 minutes by saying that Big Show would have stopped him the moment Cena tried to win.  So where was Show during the two STFs?  For that matter, where was he from the start?  Just walk on out and ambush Cena right away.  The whole thing is full of holes.  Cena's mad that now we're stuck with Ace.  Your fault, chief.  Speaking of, Big Johnny comes out on the ramp in a rascal scooter selling the match last night.  From here on out, any physicality against Johnny is an immediate termination.  He tells us that he hired Big Show back on Saturday (Which Michael Cole would fix on commentary later in the night, as the internet caught WWE in its huge plot hole).  Show says he received no sympathy from the crowd for being fired; the same crowd that begged him not to get on his knees and beg for his job.  The same crowd that buys his merch.  Another hole in all of this.  Now Show has an iron clad contract.  And, he'll face Cena at No Way Out.  Then David Otunga enters the scene and dedicates his challenge to John Cena to John Lauranaitis.  Super.

Match 1 - John Cena vs David Otunga
Winner: John Cena via submission

Cena beats the bejeezus out of Otunga, gives him an Attitude Adjustment then makes him tap via STF.

Altogether a messy way to open a Raw and follow Over the Limit.  There's more holes in the story and logic than normal here.  And we had to see David Otunga wrestle.  Also, Jerry Lawler tries to crack a late joke about Ace's rascal scooter and asks if he got it from Wilford Brimley.  Because that scooter is apparently a form of diabetes.  Fuck.

Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins hit the ring to attack Cena, Sheamus comes out and bumps into Ace on his way down the ramp (see the above paragraph!) and chases the heels off.  Cena and Sheamus will team up in the main event.

Match 2 - Alberto del Rio vs Randy Orton
Winner: Randy Orton via DQ

Well this ought to get us back on track.  Before the match starts, we get the highlight of the night:  Santino telling Ricardo Rodriguez that he would be a better announcer for ADR.  He then proceeds to usurp the position for the night and Ricky takes the best Cobra bump ever after trapping himself in his jacket.

Orton and ADR start out and have a pretty straight-forward match that we'd expect out of them.  Orton gets a small wound on his forehead which the ref surprisingly doesn't stop the match to patch up.  Chris Jericho enters the ring and hits a Codebreaker on Orton.  He screams that he is the best in the world at everything he does then delivers 2 more Codebreakers.  These two could have good matches, so if that's the program we're going with, so be it.  Anything that gives us more Jericho TV time is fine.

Daniel Bryan is next on our screens and says it's Q&A time.  Did he make Punk tap?  YES.  Should he be champ?  YES.  If he faces Punk again, will Punk tap again?  YES YES YES!  The crowd answers with NO to all of these.  Such a simple but excellent gimmick.  Punk comes out and says he beat Bryan 1, 2, 3 so he should stop whining.  Punk then introduces Kane, who will face Bryan tonight.  Punk also sits at the commentary table, which is always good.

Match 3 - Kane vs Daniel Bryan

Winner: Daniel Bryan via DQ

Kane is fully aware of what happened with Bryan and his clever chair trick from Smackdown.  Quickly, the action spills outside and Bryan lands a suicide dive.  Punk handles a chair and tricks Kane into thinking Bryan was going to pop him one.  Bryan effectively craps himself and gets beat up by Kane, then put in the Anaconda Vise by Punk and taps.

 

Punk is in the back and AJ pops up, saying she enjoyed watching him beat up Bryan.  Punk says she's sadistic, but that in all of this, she was the fool.  Blunt honesty makes the little thing cry, so Punk reluctantly offers her a shoulder to cry on, then tells her to stop crying, which she does on command.  Punk tells her he digs crazy chicks.  Oh, someone is gonna do something to screw someone out of something, I can feel it!  Please let this end in an AJ push.

Match 4 - Christian (Intercontinental Champion) vs Jinder Mahal, non-title

Winner: Christian via pinfall

No idea why the crowd was punished with a Jinder Mahal match, but this served to be a good way to get the crowd back into Christian's repertoire.  Mahal gets an audible "you can't wrestle" chant from the more astute crowd members.  Christian nails the Killswitch then ends things with a Frog Splash, because who doesn't love a Frog Splash, right?  Cole tells us that it's great to see Christian add something new to his moveset; problem being Christian has used the Frog Splash in matches for years.

Match 5 - Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix

Winner: Beth Phoenix via pinfall

Kelly stepped into a ring, so we're already at minus one star.  Kelly hit her atrocious 3 rotation headscissors spot, then gets clubbed in the back of the head and goes up WAY heavy for the Glam Slam.  Maybe Beth accidentally knocked her out.  Whatever.  I like women's wrestling; this ain't that. 

Match 6 - John Cena and Sheamus vs Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler and Tensai, Handicap Lumberjack Match

Winners: No contest

Until the end, this was a decent match.  The heels isolate a good guy, beat him up, he makes a hot tag, etc etc.  The lumberjacks were all heels and so didn't swarm until Cena or Sheamus ended up outside the ring.  Sheamus managed to take 6 or 7 of them out with one shoulder block at one point, so what the hell kind of threat are they, exactly?  Also, Tensai is apparently not a lord anymore.  And he lost his helmet.  The match 'ends' with a dogpile on Cena in the ring and faces out to make the save.  Big Show was on the stage and Cena gives chase.  He finds Ace in his rascal in the back and wants to know where Big Show is.  Ace reminds him that touching him is off limits and that...

 

Well that's the best ending to Raw in a long time.  Too bad the rest of it was entirely forgettable.  The only proper advancement we got is that Punk is paying attention to AJ and that might somehow figure into his rivalry with Daniel Bryan that, Ric Flair-willing*, continues.  I expect at least two more matches out of the series, which guarantees us about an hour more of great wrestling action.  I'd like to see all involved end up in a better place as the rivalry ends:  One with the strap, one elevated due to the matches and AJ with a crazy-bitch gimmick kicking Diva's heads off.  I am a dreamer.

*You see, Ric Flair calls himself a "wrestling god" and so that joke made sense.  I apologize, it won't ever happen again, I promise.

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Max Payne 3: Pain as art

Rockstar Games has accomplished what few games in the industry have: they have made gaming an art form. After playing Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and now Max Payne 3, I can say with honesty and a straight face that these three games delivered in ways many Hollywood movies can't.

I am a gamer who enjoys a good plot. I want to be driven by more than the need to complete a game and brag about it on Facebook or Twitter. I want to be seduced by a game, I want the story to draw me in and the characters to have depth.  I know if I'm playing a great game when I am struggling to get through a chapter just to watch the cinematic following its completion.  Max Payne 3 was one of those games.

This was the first Max Payne game I had ever played so I was worried that it would be like jumping onto a speeding train, luckily that wasn't the case. The game picks up several years after the events of Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. You get a sense within the first few moments of the opening sequence as to why Max is a raging alcoholic and pain killer addict.

His dark and sad view of the world adds color to an already rich story laid out by Rockstar. He is the quintessential dark antihero that really just can't help but get neck deep into some twisted tale.  Max has no grace, style, or finesse. He's an analog player in a digital world, taking the hard way through, not out, of any situation he's in.

His life as a cop, father and husband didn't turn out so well and it cost him everything. No matter what vengeance he laid out, nor how much time he let pass, the void within him was apparent.  For reasons you find out in flashback gameplay sequences you find Max in Brazil guarding a wealthy family while still finding time to get utterly wasted. Then things, of course, go straight to shit.

I loved the film noir-esque storytelling of the game, using Max as the narrator during gameplay and cinematics. His dark and sad view of the world adds color to an already rich story laid out by Rockstar. He is the quintessential dark antihero that really just can't help but getting neck deep into some twisted tale.  Max has no grace, style or finesse, he's an analog player in a digital world, taking the hard way through, not out, of any situation he's in.

Using bottles of painkillers as a means to restore your health, I felt like the addict that I was, looking for rooms that I felt would house some more pills to load up on. Knowing to check bathrooms, locker rooms, aid stations, I felt like a porn addict knowing what sites to find the latest Skinamax flick to drool over. The game made YOU Max Payne without you realizing it. The people you were after became people you truly hated, which made their demise as satisfying to the player as it was for Max.

Jon's Thoughts
Max Payne 3 is game of the year material through and through. The presentation is better than anything you will ever see. Anything. Every single facet of film making technique is employed flawlessly in this game. You have never played a game this raw. You will never play a game that creates a character you hate, love, and pity in the first hour of gameplay.

Max Payne 3 has set a new standard in storytelling. It addresses the limitations of the medium by simply ignoring them. Rockstar says, "screw formulaic baby town frolics like Uncharted. You buy this game and you've given us an open invitation to f*ck your skull."

The game is disturbingly violent and tasteless, but in all the right ways. It's the coke-fueled affair that gives Oliver Stone and Tarrantino creative boners. It will make you take a step back, pause, and ask: "What the hell am I playing?"

It isn't a game and it isn't a movie. It's an experience -- one soaked in blood, agony, despair, and redemption. You will love it. You will find it impossible to hate because it's just that good. You'll be witnessing the evolution of the medium as you know it. If you want to be negative nancy and pinpoint the cumbersome cover system and "typical run and gun affair", go somewhere and shut up. No one cares. Max Payne 3 is beautifully disgusting, and even if you hate it, you still find a way to love it.

The story delves deep into the heart of depravity and corruption as only Max Payne and Rockstar can provide. Some dark holes you end up in even disgust Max at certain points, which made you feel the growing sense of repulsion for the people who did this.

What more could you ask for in a game? To play as some fictional character and get so entranced by the story and action that you forget that what you're playing is essentially a child's toy for twenty-somethings is impressive. You become a traveller and/or passenger in a story about a man desperate to escape a past full of misery, only to trudge through the depths of hell to find nothing but brand new scars.

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The Dark Knight: Chaos Rebooted

As one of the writers for our film department here at Geek Asylum, I get the distinct honor of getting to write about one of the things I love most outside of my job here, going to the movies.  In some instances, I get to write about movies that are absolute hogwash, and though I hate it, I throw myself on the proverbial hand grenade for you, the reader. You can thank me later.  Other times I get to write about movies I've seen that just stick with me, in a good way. A movie that for about 2 hours or so takes me out of my everyday mundane life and brings me into an amazing adventure. The Dark Knight was something I did not expect. I mean, I loved Batman Begins, and had seen the trailers of The Dark Knight to know that my place was at my nearest multiplex for the midnight show. I expected the line outside the theater, I expected people dressed up as Batman or the Joker, even thought I saw a Morgan Freeman cosplay, but that may have been a Nelson Mandela lookalike. I'm not sure. But what I didn't expect was how damn good this movie was.

At the conclusion to Batman Begins, they set up the anticipation to the next villain on Batman's radar: the infamous Joker.  The internet swarmed to find out who would play the Clown Prince of Crime. The mantle fell upon the late Heath Ledger. Who knew? Who knew that he would take this character and performance and knock it out of the park. Now, I'm the first to say that The Academy doesn't know good cinema if it slapped them in the face, since they sure as hell can't pick decent hosts for the damn show. But sometimes they give credit where credit is due, and Heath's award for Best Supporting Actor was well deserved.

After delving into the beginnings of Batman, the sophomore installment now expands upon what it actually takes to be a hero in the face of true chaos. Batman stands as a bastion of justice in Gotham, using the fear that the criminals and mobsters used to subjugate its inhabitants against them. But while their battle with the Caped Crusader and the Gotham PD rages, up comes a man with a very distinctive smile, one who doesn't play by the rules. Batman/Bruce Wayne sees the light at the end of the tunnel with the emergence of Gotham's new DA: Harvey Dent. The board is set and the pieces are moving, everything is set for this powder keg to erupt in Gotham.

Hero movies have several key ingredients: the hero, the villain, and those caught in-between.  The repercussions of those who end up as collateral damage are seldom felt in film, easily getting overshadowed by the final showdown between the protagonist and antagonist. But Nolan really expanded on this aspect. Seeing the supporting characters like Dent and Lt. Gordon begin to become unhinged in the face of Joker's onslaught. Even the stoic Dark Knight begins to question whether or not he truly knew how to combat injustice and retain honor in the process. Too easily does the solution come to the hero in comic movies. Let's just rotate the earth counterclockwise to save the damsel or lets use this spell or this miracle drug to wash away the backwash from the fallen. Not in Nolan's Batman universe. People died. They don't come back. Scars end up being souvenirs you never lose. And the seemingly incorruptible become fallible. In real life there isn't always an easy way out.

The underlying theme in this film was chaos. Harvey Dent's final monologue had one of the best lines in the film and summed it all up: "We tried to be decent men, in an indecent time." The Joker was a madman but he had a method to his madness. He aimed to inspire chaos, madness, and death. How can one hold true to their convictions in this case? There are two sides to every coin.

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Backup PC Review

Sorry for missing my weekly tech post last week; I had completely run out of ideas and the best I could come up with was a rant on the classification of mammals. I find it crazy that dolphins and whales make the cut but platypusses... platypi.... the platypus can carry on with blatant disregard for the standard and can still be considered a mammal. It lays eggs and is poisonous, wtf!? So, yeah... no one would have enjoyed that article.

WTF?

As it turns out I couldn't have written and posted it anyway. Thursday afternoon my laptop decided to die causing me to miss a recording of the GameEnthus Podcast. I tried my usual diagnostics but to no avail; seems like my video functions, which were on the brink anyway, have completely seized up. My Toshiba Satellite A-105 is toast. It is sad, but on the bright side I do have somewhat of a backup and my harddrives are safe and that data has not been lost.

My backup at the moment is my wife's old netbook, a Dell Inspiron Mini 10.  I spent most of this weekend tweaking and prodding it to get it to install and run the necessary programs for podcasting and audio editing (skype, audacity, etc.). Off the bat, my main issue is that the screen resolution is not fit for the screen real estate it provides. Its a 10" screen, which is serviceable, but it really isn't the best when the windows you bring up on screen don't fit properly. However, it does have an HDMI-Out port which allows me to output directly to my tv.  Unfortunately, while I do have compatible televisions I don't have any practical monitors that sport HDMI at the moment. My Cr-48 laptop sports an 11" screen, which is a bit bigger, but you can tell Google Chrome is custom tailored to fit nicely.

I'm dual-booting between Windows 7 Starter and Linux Mint 10 on the Mini and at the moment the linux side is broken. Upon booting into Mint I get an error relating to video drivers and the system will not go past the login screen. Once I track down an empty usb flash drive I can scrub and replace the linux side with something more up to date. On the Windows side of things its painfully obvious as to why netbooks only shipped with 7 Starter or XP... this thing crawls. It's slow even running the most basic of programs. I did spend a few hours trying to upgrade this thing but Dell really designed this laptop to be a pain to get into. After disassembling the most of the unit I still couldn't reach the 1GB ram stick inside. If I could max it to a 2GB, things would run a whole lot smoother.

I ran into some major issues with Windows Installer and Windows Updater working in tandem to thwart my attempts at installing Skype, but after a lot of tweaking I finally got it to work. Also, after messing around with some idle processes in the task manager I was able to coax out a little bit of extra power and speed. It would be better with more memory but it does manage to run Torchlight in "netbook mode." And it runs slightly less terribly than on my dead laptop since it sports a more modern Atom processor (over the ancient Intel Centrino). Receiving a Torchlight 2 beta invite immediately after my other pc crapped out definitely felt like lemons in the wounds.... but I'll be ok. And yes, I did attempt to boot T2 up. It didn't go well.

I love the ideas of netbooks and definitely appreciate what they do and what they stood for. Unfortunately, saddling them with sub par specs with bloated windows systems on top was not the way to handle the movement. As I sit here and type from a prototype laptop with a custom OS thats only a couple degrees out from retail (chromebooks) I find it sad that they didn't try to use them as a linux platform. Simple 11" chassis, Atom Processors with 2-4GB ram running Ubuntu would've been a proposition that had potential. The Chromebooks could've used that kind of boost in awareness too. But anyway... keep up with my adventures in netbook land right here on EnthusReviews. I will probably be posting about the awesomeness that is fixing a partition after dual booting on The Open Source Noob page in the near future as well. Now the chase is on to find and purchase a capable desktop pc that can handle a little modding and upgrading as well as podcasting and gaming... without breaking the bank.

The Usual Suspects:

The website - EnthusReviews (I think you're here already tho)

The twitters - @EnthusReviews, @BigRob029, @MajorLinux

The GooglePlus - EnthusReviews+

The digital magazine - Exclusive Beta Access

New and Improved:

The website - BlogEnthus

A hub that brings all episodes from the EnthusNation and Geeks Gone Raw networks together.

Shoutout!
@crunchychocobo for letting me know that mammal classification is just technically broad enough.

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Batman Begins: Fear Rebooted

After several years of cheesy one liners, Batsuits with nipples, and the Bat Card (never leave the cave without it), we got the Batman reboot that we needed and deserved. Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale teamed up for one of the best comic book movies in recent memory. Nolan took a slightly different approach to the Batman legend, bringing it more down to earth. Some purists might object to that, wanting to see more larger than life aspect kept more larger than life. For example having Ra's Al Ghul Lazarus Pit as the true source of Liam Nesson's character's immortality and not having a stand in to keep the legend alive (which is something I wouldn't mind them revisiting with the fate of Batman in the final installment a mystery).


I feel like the Joel Schumacher Batman's had a lot to do with how this reboot was undertaken.  It was almost like the more unbelievable parts of the world of Gotham became taboo after years of utter rubbish. It was easy to overtake movies like Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. People still held onto the Tim Burton Batman films as the only ones to exist, discounting the following installments as just theater fodder to bring in some cash.

As I stated in my prior article, I felt like making Batman into more of a exaggerated crime drama was exactly what the franchise needed, and the audiences responded. It set the tone for any comic book movie to be made after that, which is why I think Kick-Ass was received as well it did. It brought the hero down to earth and had the audience truly fear for him or her. It made the acquisition of the Tumbler, the Batsuit, and the endless supply of gadgets tangible. It was the perfect origin story.

Each Nolan Batman had a central theme, this one was: fear. Fear was what kept Gothamites from standing up against corruption, a nugget of wisdom delivered by Carmine Falcone. Fear was what Henri Ducard/ Al Ghul tried to get Bruce Wayne to overcome during his League of Shadows training. And Fear is what Jonathan Crane aka The Scarecrow used to bring utter destruction to Gotham.

It's poetic that the first film in this trilogy was centered around fear and overcoming it with reckless abandon and will. Being that in Hollywood, Batman was something to be snickered at. There had to be some fear in taking on a project of this magnitude, but as the first film showed...fear was overcome.

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New Devil May Cry Gets a Release Date

And it's about damn time too. My feminine side kicks in when I see a shirtless and heavenly figure splattering blood all over the floor with perfect ease and a conceited smile, so I can't help but always be on the lookout for any fresh tips on DMC, which is the new Devil May Cry (there's a big fuss about calling DMC Devil May Cry for this particular installment. It's DMC - get it right). What we do know now is this: that it'll be coming to a PS3 and Xbox near you on January 15, 2013 and it'll be released for PC later on in the year. It will also have it's own booth at E3, so I'll be anxiously sitting at my computer with ice cream, popcorn, and cookies constantly refreshing my twitter feed during E3 weekend.

Besides the release date, we got some character info too! You see, there's this girl named Kat, and I'm not too fond of her because she holds Dante's attention and I don't. Ok, so I'm a fangirl; sue me! Ok, please don't... but seriously though, she should stop that. Anyhow, she's an extremely talented psychic and medium who can see into Limbo, but can't interact with it like Dante does. While she's allegedly sweet and innocent, rainbows and butterflies, yadda yadda yadda, she's the eyes and ears of an organization called The Order and is assigned a mission to guide Dante through Limbo.

That's all that Capcom is really letting us have for now. While I'm a little upset that it's going to be delayed, it's probably for the best so they can spend a little more time working out the bugs and stuff... that, and having a game come out in January wouldn't be a first for them, so this is kind of upkeeping their MO. Be that as it may, I'm still super excited and it's definitely a great way to kick in the new year.

Sources: capcom-unity.org, joystiq.com

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[Video] 'The Avengers' video game that never was

Video game tie-ins to popular movie properties are nothing new, in fact it's been the standard for the last few years. Very few licensed games are anything to write home about, but what about one of the largest movie releases of the last five years?

If any movie deserved a video game, it's certainly The Avengers. Think about it, it's tailor made for co-op gameplay and countless other multiplayer possibilities. THQ Australia had been working on the game for over a year, when last summer THQ shut development down (for obvious reasons).

By now most of us know about THQ's economic hardships, but that doesn't mean you can't see the game you'll never get to to play. Video footage of the alpha build of the game has been released and you can see the general direction THQ Australia was going before the project was canceled.




Via: Screen Crush

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Comic Books: What's Going On!?

As a reader, you have to expect the good and the bad. I've hyped up many stories, been excited for many series, but lately, Comics have just taken a bland turn given what we were presented. The two big stories, Marvel's "Avengers VS X-men" and DC Comics "Justice League" started out as amazing ideas, but this far in I feel they've performed below expectations. Both Marvel and DC presented us with two qualities that really grabbed the reader's attention at first.

Marvel presented a war between the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, The Avengers, and the mutant population of the ever-so-famous X-Men. With a summer blockbuster in theaters, and a pretty steady popularity of the X-men, this seemed like a no-brainer. Add in the official return of the Scarlet Witch, both an X-men and Avengers icon, and the return of the Phoenix force, and you begin to brew one of the best concepts you can expect from a company in Marvel.

On the DC side, you reboot your entire series, rewrite the Justice League, and in an explosive 6-issue opening, you have the introduction and defeat of Darkseid. You also see the addition of Cyborg into the series, and your "New 52" Justice League is born. This brings out the best DC has to offer; Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Green Lantern, The Flash, Superman, and Batman are all showcased really well.

But let's fast forward. You had a great premise on the Marvel side- where did it go? Personally I feel as though we were ripped out of what we all wanted when you pitted the X-men versus the Avengers. Yeah, you had those "WOW, that happened!?" moments like when Cyclops blasted Captain America, or when Hope incinerated Wolverine, but at the end of the day, what did we really get? The AVX series is a lot of talking, and feels more like it as I read the first four issues.

If you were brave enough, you picked up the special "AVX: VS" series, which showcases two fights from the AVX series but separate from the main story, but now with detail. Um....I'm sorry, but what happened? Magneto VS Iron Man- Yeah, I guess Iron Man could and would build a nonmetal suit, but the only reason Magneto "lost" was because he became aware of the Phoenix Force. I guess we can ignore Magneto pulling in all of the electro-magnetics from the entire galaxy?

Next you had this no brain fight between a living rock and a man who can swim in the water at high speed and has super strength. No brains needed because most of the fight is underwater. When you have such a heavy character like the Thing, you'd think that Namor would have such an advantage. This is not the case, somehow the Thing gains the movement needed to not only maneuver in the water, but also manages to rip the gigantic teeth out of a large fish. He also manages to cross the teeth and pin down Namor against the floor, and the Thing leaves. How this is ever possible is beyond me, but hey I guess the Avengers had to win these ones given the movie had JUST came out.

Looking back, neither fight had a "Winner", only an individual who wasn't completely incapacitated. You look at the next issue and Captain America knocks Gambit out with one punch, while Spider-man loses to Colossus on account of needing to leave for more important things (Like the plot of the freaking story..)

If you fast forward to issues 7,8, and 9 of Justice League, you're not given much more Justice. Issue 7 is no better than a sappy soap opera between Wonder Woman and her boyfriend, issue 8 is a joke building up to the Green Arrow NOT being a member of the Justice League, and issue 9 is just a plot filler to introduce a new villain. Here's the kicker- as you read these issues, they show little fights against enemies, new and old. Where are these fights?They have three separate plots, but no new arc. There's an advertisement for one way down the road, but what about the here and now?

It's almost like they're teasing us, giving us a shaky plot so we hope somewhere down the road we'll get a great story that we won't be confused for, while at the same time confusing us by barely having any big league fights. What happened to the action we were given in the first 6 issues? It seems like it's been so long since I've been graced with teamwork and fighting evil. There's a complete lack of unity, and it's not something that appeals to me.

There's more, of course. Both sides of this coin have a bonus feature. For Marvel, it's their Augmented Reality. After going into it a bit more, I realized how little it really matters. For one, you have to be connected to a network, so why you wouldn't just look these perks up online is beyond me. Secondly, reality isn't really augmented in every AR image, the AR stuff is actually separated so you're really just given a small presentation.

Compared to the AR apps already available based on the Avengers movie or Spider-man movie, this one lacks the excitement. If you ask me, it should be more or less a 3-D rendering of the characters fighting. Tell me you didn't want to see a Cyclops image blasting a Captain America? Instead, you got to see it sketched and then inked...I guess it tickles someone's fancy, but not mine. It was cool the first time, to see that they went that extra mile , but now it's just an unnecessary add-on.

For DC, you're just given a bonus that really hasn't amounted to anything yet. After Justice League they've decided to reintroduce SHAZAM!. And again - why bother? They just add a few pages to the end of the Justice League issue and you hope they're piecing together the story. It was nice seeing it in that very first sneak peek. It was really nice seeing the image of SHAZAM!....but where is he?

They're taking way too long, and even though they're adding little bits to move the plot along, I'd rather be given a great story in one shot, rather than a mediocre story become broken up over a number of weeks.This origin is taking way too long to complete. With such a hint towards a powerful character, at least give the guy his own book. After reading the most recent issue, I still don't know where this story is going, and I'd rather have action now with flashbacks to what we're given.

So where does all this leave us? It leaves more to be desired, and I get the feeling that getting these issues are doing me no good, and that I'm better off waiting for a trade paperback to come out that compiles everything into a concrete story.

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