And the winner is… Game of Thrones, for most pirated show of 2012. Also in this edition: Thor’s bad joke, a new Tron, the XBOX gets explored –and a subscription plan, CW gets green, DVD’s and Windows 8, another Spider-Man preview, and no streaming for you!

• Game of Thrones –projected as most pirated show of 2012
  HBO’s Game of Thrones has been all the craze since it’s launch last year sometime. With a barrier to entry of subscribing to HBO through a cable or satellite provider, it wasn’t far-fetched at all to assume such mass-piracy would have happened. Cable and satellite providers only offer HBO or other premium channels with their most expensive tier of services, and with most people trying to trim costs these days, premium cable is probably the first thing to go. HBO, please consider this an opportunity to offer up a streaming-only plan.
  –By the way, if you are a big a fan of this series as I am, and know nothing about the books or have no plan of reading them at all, you should check out A Cast of Kings podcast. They breakdown each episode scene by scene, and discuss things that may be different from the books.
• Avengers joke ignites petition
  In The Avengers movie, after Black Widow states that Loki has killed eighty people in two days, Thor replies, “He’s adopted.” A petition has actually been started in opposition to the joke, which in my opinion, was just an attempt of Thor to distance himself from the actions of him brother. Then again, I’m not adopted (or at least that I know of), so I can’t truly know how an adopted individual would feel upon hearing this.
• Watch the 30-Minute Tron: Uprising prelude online
  This one was not on my radar at all, but seems interesting none the less. I’m not a big Tron fan so I’m not sure how much actual story is behind the movies, which is probably why it would lend itself well to an animated series format.
• The $99 XBOX is official, only at Microsoft stores
  The rumors from the past few weeks are true. If you are anywhere near one of the few Microsoft stores and really want to game on a budget, this may be a good solution. The package include the core console, a Kinect, and XBOX Live membership for a mere fifteen bucks a month. Plenty of people have done the math, and it actually is only about forty bucks more than it would cost you to purchase the same package outright. I guess the real issue here is getting locked into a contract, much like we have seen with cellular companies.
• Green Arrow show picked up by CW
  Although I don’t give a crap about Green Arrow, this project does have some interesting names attached to it. With the relative unpopularity of Green Arrow as a brand, this project almost seems doomed from the start. This one will probably go the way of ill-fated Wonder Woman reboot.
• DVD/Blu-Ray Playback, not built into Windows 8
  No DVD or Blu-Ray playback in Windows 8, no worries. This is not really an issue, although that has not prevented various media outlets from sounding off. You see, a lot of people stream media these day. Netflix isn’t thirty-seven percent of internet traffic for no reason. But still, not everyone has a high-speed internet connection. Again, no worries. There are a myriad of free and paid media players that provide such capability. Let’s face it, physical media is going the way of the dodo bird.
• Internet Explorer finally coming to Xbox
  PlayStation has had the leg-up on this one for years now, and while currently only being internally beta-tested phase, I hope to see this one soon. About time Microsoft.
• Four Minute Amazing Spider-Man Preview
  Everything I see about this movie only makes me more and more exited. This preview features a bridge scene in which Spider-Man attempts to say a boy who is about to take a swim in the Hudson.
  
• C-Spire Streaming Tier Revisited
  I have been hearing rumblings that C-Spire has finally started charging for their streaming tier, which was free since the release of the iPhone late last year. Needless to say, customers are furious over this and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. With the main feature of most handsets starting to focus more around the ability to stream media, i see that only becoming a bigger issue going forward.

Thanks for reading, see you next week. Direct all feedback email to fans@techpedition.com  or leave a voicemail at 1.601.329.0636.

The level of ambiguity on the internet has allowed sometimes reckless opposition to anyone who may give a different opinion, but with little consequence.

But what if that same level of disdain was carried over to real life. What type of results would emerge from such reckless opposition? Would the person delivering the opposing viewpoint know or even care? I guess the real question is, what really happens when reckless social behavior from the internet is carried over to real life.

If you’ve seen The Room, you understand the odd appeal of this laughably produced unintentional drama-dy. If you haven’t seen it, get ready, The Room is one of the best-worst movies you will ever see. Its so bad it has a cult following for being bad. Everything from the R. Kelly inspired R & B soundtrack to the numerous sex scenes and ludicrous dialog, has made The Room a cinema classic that generations will be mocking for years to come.

The Reality Breached crew has recently taken a liking to the film’s esoteric appeal. Here’s Josh, Reid, and Sergio’s custom companion commentary track for your auditory pleasure. Sergio will give a queue at the beginning to start the movie. This is the first Reality Breached commentary experience and recording it was a bit of a snafu. You’ll notice the terrible audio quality and horrid distortion from the cheap mic that was used. Future Podcasts and Commentaries will be of much higher quality, we promise.

“You are tearing me apart, Lisa!”

Enjoy the show!

You play as James Heller, a character who is only marginally less annoying than Alex Mercer (the protagonist from the first game), as he becomes infected by the same virus from in Prototype. Alex Mercer returns and is responsible for the infection of Heller. Very little is done to bridge the gaps between games. For the most part its just assumed that the player knows what happened in Prototype 1. The plot weaves Mercer in and out of the action throughout and major revelations make Mercer a major player in the endgame (I’m trying to avoid spoilers).

The plot is what you would expect. There’s a certain amount of mystery regarding the 2nd outbreak of the virus and how it ties to Mercer is in question. The piecing together of the back story is not nearly as intriguing as it was in the first game, but alot of that comes from the story not being that interesting. Its kind of a “law of diminishing returns” sort of thing. At no point during my playthrough was a I really invested in the story, and the way it plays out in the end is predictable in an X-men sort of way. The only story thread that carries weight is the discovery that Heller’s daughter is alive. While it may be a stereotypical contrivance to make the 3rd act carry some emotional weight, the solid cutscenes showing Heller’s emotional reactions were the most resonant thing the game’s story had to offer.

Gameplay, oh the gameplay. Like the first game, Prototype 2 thrives on chaos. The longer your security alerts last the more firepower gets thrown at you. Everything from tanks, to helicopters, to giant car-flinging mutants, to squads of super-soldiers, there isn’t a shortage of enemy types to tear apart. Things can be pretty hairy if you are unable to hide from the authorities. The only downside is that alerts are much easier to escape from this time around. I have terrible memories of repeatedly failing missions in Prototype because I could not flee without having to take out 4 helicopters. In Prototype 2, I cannot recall a time when I died because I couldn’t escape an alert. So, the difficulty has been scaled back this time around, and that has effectively taken the teeth out of the tension normally found in frantic open-world environments.

The difficulty doesn’t come from stressful situations, or powerful enemies (hell Heller becomes so strong during the game he can one hit kill tanks and helicopters), the difficulty comes more from clumsy controls and an erratic lock-on function. Most of the times I died, it was because of I was attacking something accidentally. Once I got a handle on the lock-on mechanic it wasn’t nearly as hard, but even up until the final boss, the combat never felt 100% comfortable.

The real highlights of the game are the visual style and rendered cutscenes. Alot of care was put into getting the cutscenes to match the setting. Everything from the visual filters to the editing, Prototype 2 has a grit that rivals Gears of War. There’s even a bit of a Sin-city vibe to the style that is quite endearing. That is carried over to the broken portrayal of New York City. I don’t remember being impressed by the city in the original Prototype, so clearly more work has been put into melding the styles of the cutscenes and the over-world into a more cohesive experience. However, most of the charm of the dark setting is destroyed by the script, most specifically the dialog given to Heller.

Nearly every casual piece of dialog Heller has drops an F-bomb or an S-Bomb. Think Bulletstorm times two, minus the sporadic humor. I’ve decided that Radical Entertainment is completely incapable of creating a main character that is not a complete douche. Mercer still stands tall, next to War from Darksiders, and the entire cast of Gears of War, as the most juvenilely designed characters in recent video game history. Heller, while better than Mercer, is bad for completely different reasons. He speaks like an offensive caricature of Dr. Dre, or Ice Cube circa 1989. I love the idea of completely replacing your protagonist in a sequel, and Heller could have been interesting, but strange design choices make Prototype 2′s characters fall flat.

In the end, Prototype 2 is just another Prototype game. It feels like its predecessor in nearly everyway and nothing is included to push the series forward meaningfully. It checks most of the boxes needed in an openworld game to be a competent and fulfilling experience, but anyone who has played excessive open-world games in this generation will not get much from Prototype 2. On the other hand, it’s wickedly violent, brutal, and many might actually call it “badass”. Maybe I’m too cynical to just enjoy ripping a dude in half, who knows.

Verdict – Its competent, its familiar and its violent. If that’s enough for you, you’ll love Prototype 2.

Random technology, gaming, comic, movie, television, and anime ramblings and entertainment from the techpedition pundits.

Episode Cast

James Allen Knotts and Clarence Brown

Episode Summary

Be warned, spoilers are eminent. Join us as a Clarence, a comic book novice, and James, a comic book maven, discuss their likes and dis-likes of the recent box office hit, The Avengers!

If this review sounds like it was written by a star struck 13 year old girl at a Justin Beiber concert, its probably because that’s how I feel about this movie. Its hard to find anything wrong with the film, and it will probably take me 2 or 3 more viewings before I find something to really gripe about. Anyone that knows me knows that’s a feat because I gripe about EVERYTHING. Everything from the casting, to the story, to the grandiose third act is Marvel Studios doing what they do best, showcasing their properties in amazing ways.

The trouble with ensembles is that some character always either gets in the way or get ignored (I’m looking at you Xmen: First Class). Even comic movies that use their characters fully usually do so in very contrived ways, like both Fantastic 4 films. All of the characters’ roles were fully developed and how each helped reach the movie’s resolution made sense. Enough screen time was given to all characters and any dangling story elements were wrapped up just enough to use in future installments of the series. Like in Captain America: The First Avenger, this entire film felt like it was orchestrated by an enormous team at Marvel, with each and every decision being carefully dissected. Many would scoff at the idea of a movie developed by committee, but in the land of Comics, its necessary. If a script isn’t criticized by enough people you end up with movies like Superman Returns or Hulk.

Alot of good things have been said about The Avengers, and as movie goers make their way to theaters even more things will be said. Here’s what I would consider the high points.

The Avengers Themselves: Every character outside of the Hulk is portrayed exactly how you remember them from the other movies. Stark’s wit is sharp as ever thanks to yet another outstanding performance from Robert Downey Jr., Thor and Loki’s family strife is still fresh and both of them are clearly not too far removed from their original status as just brothers, Captain America is still a Patriot and his fish out of water routine is delightfully charming. The characters traits weren’t dictated by the movie, the movie was dictated by their traits.

Mark Ruffalo: This film makes me mad at Ang Lee for not casting Ruffalo in the original Hulk movie. He plays an unsure awkward almost nerdy Bruce Banner better than both Eric Bana and Edward Norton combined. Bruce finally felt like Bruce! He carries a fear, that is unique in that he’s not scared for himself, he’s scared OF himself. Could he have carried a movie on his own playing Banner like he did in the Avengers? Who knows, but in the ensemble, as a character who is clearly as scared of himself as everyone else is, Ruffalo blows it out of the water.

Scarlett Johansson: Sure, we all know she’s hot, lets try and get past that and focus on her performance. She mixed badass with nervous very easily throughout the film. On more than one occasion Black Widow’s fear of the Hulk had Johansson playing “visibly scared” remarkably well. Its easy to write off Johansson as just another pretty face, but her IMDB page shows the number of good films she has made. Some depth was finally brought to her character and I really hope they give Black Widow a spin off film.

Thor’s Hammer: Last year, in my Thor review, I mentioned how happy I was that the movie actually made Thor’s hammer (possibly the dumbest idea for a super hero weapon ever) really cool. This trend continued throughout The Avengers. Having Thor retrieve his hammer from an unknown location by just holding his hand out and the hammer tearing through any and everything in its way was almost as enchanting as him throwing the hammer while the camera shot stayed on him as he speaks to another Avenger. The sound of Mjolnir hitting enemies can be heard through the whole conversation, and it ends with Thor catching the hammer on its return, not really carring who his weapon just leveled. Even seeing The Incredible Hulk try to lift the hammer was fulfilling.

The Match Ups: Through out the movie the Avengers bicker and fight and each fight was spectacular in different ways. Thor Vs Ironman, Hulk Vs Thor, Black Widow Vs Hawkeye…the match ups were iconic, impressive and believable. Captain America’s shield successfully blocking a strike from Mjolnir is sure to have comic geeks arguing for years. Nothing quite tops the final battle in act three between Hulk and Loki. By ending with the line “Puny God,” a line that will be quoted for decades, Hulk reminds us why he’s such an important member of the team.

The Subtlety: The story is solid and the progression is clear. The glue that holds the 6 movies together was subtle every time it was mentioned. The story didn’t get bogged down trying to explain why Capt America doesn’t get modern references, or how Thor came back to the earth realm when the Rainbow Bridge had been destroyed, or even why there was a picture of Natalie Portman in the middle of the film. The questions that need to be answered get answered and the ones that don’t don’t. If you didn’t understand what just happened because it was a idea from a different movie, it doesn’t matter, more important things will be happening on screen. The movie caters almost perfectly to both the new viewers and the veterans. Near the end of Act 2: Capt America calls out Tony Stark for being selfish and not willing to sacrifice himself. By the end of the film Stark proves him wrong by nearly dying, but neither character refers to the previous interaction. Its left for the audience to deduce it themselves. Things like this show that the filmmakers respect the audience enough to not hold our hands.

In the short time since I have seen the movie it has already completely consumed my psyche. The Avengers simultaneously is the funniest comedy, the most action packed action movie, and geekiest geek movie. Not since my initial viewing of The Dark Knight, have I so helplessly hyperbolized every aspect of a film. I will be seeing The Avengers at least one more time in theaters. Deep inside, I know that this film cannot be as good as I remember it, and its got to have flaws that I’m missing. That first viewing left a sheen of starry eyed wonderment so thick that right now its almost hard for me to picture myself enjoying another movie…ever.

Obviously that sheen will wear off, probably quickly, and The Dark Knight Rises will probably crush my brain in other ways, but for the film to have such a profound effect on me, a 29 year old, jaded, cynical, grown-ass-man, is a sign that The Avengers is a landmark film in the arenas of Comic Box movies, Summer Blockbusters, American Cinema, and 21st century culture as a whole.

I told you this review would be ridiculous and probably exaggerated, but its honest. Go see the Avengers, even if you haven’t done the homework with the other movies. Sure, Marvel and Disney will probably rake in a billion dollars at the box office when its said and done, but I personally see the Avengers as a gift from Hollywood. Its like they know we have sat through horrid movies like The Green Lantern, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Ghost Rider just waiting for the payoff.

Verdict: The Avengers is that payoff.

Another edition of Around the Net is here! This weeks edition includes: dirt-cheap XBOX bundles, HULU sucking more, Drawing Something less, weird Steve Jobs video, and the Black Ops reveal trailer!

Update

• The Amazing Spider-Man trailer #3
  I am actually more excited about this movie than the Avengers. Did I just write that?
  

• Microsoft readies $99 Xbox 360 Kinect bundle, with two-year subscription
  Looks like owning a console is starting to look a lot like owning a cellphone, with a $99 buy-in and and a $15 monthly fee. Although I consider $15 a month a lot of money, the gaming community has been paying this for years on the massively multi-player online game front. This is great for those wanting to game on a budget, I would love to see Apple do this with the iPad though.
• Rumor Mill: Hulu will soon require you to have a cable subscription
  Pressed by content partners, Hulu may soon start requiring cable subscriber authentication for content. If it hasn’t already been said, Hulu is dead.
• Draw Something daily users rapidly declining
  Just a month ago, this game was all the craze, getting scooped up by Zynga for a reported 200 million dollars. Well, turns out the buyout was the best move the up and coming development studio Omgpop could have made, as daily usage is on a steady decline. Honestly, just the other day I heard my wife say, “Nobody’s playing anymore.” I guess the drawing is on the wall for the highly popular app.
• Steve Jobs as… Franklin D. Roosevelt?
  Oh how those internal videos can come back to haunt yuo. This is just weird, but definitely worth checking out for the Apple fan boys.
• PlayStation Smash All-Stars: Battle Royale Revealed
  Simply put, this looks like a rip-off of Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers, at least at a glance. I’ve heard from other pundits who have had “hands-on” that there are subtle differences about this title that sets it apart.
  
• Black Ops II Trailer
  So there was a Call of Duty: Black Ops II Trailer. Check it out!
  

I’m sure I missed something. Send your tech news to fans@techpedition.com.

Reality Breached is an in-depth look at the Video Game industry and its business practices. Our pundits break down parties involved and give their stance on pressing industry trends. It’s time to get deep ya’ll.

Episode Cast

Sergio Lugo, Reid Walker, and Josh Alcaraz

Episode Summary

By popular demand Rebre takes it to the fans. We comb through the mountains of your fanmail to answer the burning questions. We talk gritty reboots, biggest flops, and we take liberties with the Dr. Mario franchise that would frighten your mother. Prepare your ears to accept our bangin’ podcast. It’s Rebre son, check it out!

P.S. Sorry about my mic volume, I don’t know what happened but its really low. I blame Reid. -Sergio

This year has the potential to be ever bigger and better. There’s a potentially amazing 1,2,3 punch of highly anticipated comic book movies and some dark horses that could break the bank. Here’s the run down of Techpedition’s my top 10 upcoming summer movies.

10. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Its no secret that I really hated the first G.I. Joe movie. Some people had issue with casting others had problems with deviations from the fiction, I disliked G.I. Joe because it was a horrid movie. Outside of a few action scenes, The Rise of Cobra seemed like a big budget B movie. Retaliation seems to know how bad the original was and has made huge changes to the cast, by bringing in heavy hitters Bruce Willis and Dwayne The Rock Johnson. I’m not too excited to see how it turns out, but it really can’t be worse than the first one if only because Marlon Wayans is missing.

9. Battleship
Battleship seems to be Hasbro’s experiment in de-Transformers-ing a Transformers movie. Based on the omni-present board game of the same name, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch (AKA Gambit), Alexander Skarsgård (AKA one of the the True Blood guys), Liam Neeson (AKA Qui-gon Gin Ra’s al Ghul) Rihanna (AKA, yeah THAT Rihanna) and if the trailers are any sign, its been heavily influenced by Michael Bay’s over the top Transformers films. Needless to say, I think this will suck. I could be wrong, but signs are not pointing to excellence. I wonder what the vegas odds are on someone saying “you sunk my battleship” at some point.

8. Total Recall
Total Recall is a remake of the classic 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Its sticks more closely to the original’s source material the short story, “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”, and it stars a frantically clinging to his failing career Colin Farrell. I really want this movie to be good, wait no, I want this movie to be great. The debut trailer looks VERY promising. I’ve always found the premise behind Total Recall to be really intriguing and Its about time for a good high-scifi blockbuster. As I understand it, they will not be going to Mars…kinda disappointing…but not a deal breaker.

7. Dark Shadows
Its been awhile since Tim Burton has done a proper comedy. Films like Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice helped shaped Burton’s career. When I found out Dark Shadows was a comedy waning interest in yet another Depp fronted Burton movie turned into a genuine excitement. I’m a huge fan of nearly all of Burton’s work, but was not impressed by Alice in Wonderland. Ironically that turned out to be his most successful film to date. The cast in Dark Shadows seems to be strong and it looks to treat vampires like they should be treated, like monsters.

6. Brave
Despite Cars 2 stinking up both the box office and rotten tomatoes last year, the Pixar name still carries alot of weight when it comes to summer flicks. Brave is a their first original property since 2009′s UP and UP was amazing. No one does animation like Pixar so, it doesn’t take any convincing to put squarely in the middle of the top 10 list. I know very little about the story, but theirs red hair, archery and big green fields of grass. Again, just the Pixar name is driving interest here. If they can make a film about an old man flying his house around the world with helium balloons work I’m sure they can handle anything.

5. Prometheus
Speaking of high Scifi…Prometheus is weird, really weird. Its not a Alien movie but its in the same “universe”. Its directed by Alien director Ridley Scott and is set before the events of that film. While technically a prequel in sequence Scott has made it clear that the events of Prometheus do not tie into the events of Alien. So, to repeat, Prometheus is weird. Why make a prequel that is not a prequel? Is the Alien universe really so rich that dropping the Prometheus story into it is smarter/easier than just building a new universe? Who knows? What I do know is that I’m kind of excited, but only because of the ties to Alien.

4. Men In Black III
Men in Black is one of those movies from my childhood that shaped my taste in films as an adult. The second movie was pretty disappointing, but a nifty timetravel story could really make MIB3 shine. Also, its about time Will Smith got back to playing Will Smith in his movies. I get it, you’re an actor and each role should be different…now stop that shit and just be Will Smith, the guy people love spending money on. I’m happy that Tommy Lee Jones is back, and that Josh Brolin is playing a young version of him. It makes sense because Tommy Lee Jones is really really really really really (I think you get the point!) friggin’ old now.

3. The Amazing Spider-man
Clearly rebooting Spider-man is more of a business decision than anything. Sony has to keep making these movies in order to not lose the license. Would I have rather seen another tired Tobey Mcguire Spider-man? Probably not. The casting in The Amazing Spider-man is fantastic, and the franchise will benefit from a tonal change. Also, go back and watch the first Spider-man movie. You’ll see that its pretty tame and Spidey needs something with a bit more teeth. There may be alot of naysayers when it comes to this movie, but I seriously think it has the potential to be the dark horse comic film this summer.

2. The Dark Knight Rises
Let me get this out of the way now. The Dark Knight Rises WILL NOT BE better than The Dark Knight, and no one should expect it to be. Its almost guaranteed to be good, because Chris Nolan doesn’t make bad movies. The third chapter of a trilogy is rarely the best (I’m looking at you X-men: The Last Stand, Spiderman 3 and Return of the Jedi). I’m really looking forward to Anne Hathoway’s Catwoman (for obvious reasons) but the character of Bane is pretty boring. With a rogue’s gallery that includes The Riddler, The Penguin and Harley Quinn, choosing Bane seems weak and predictable. I’m almost willing to bet Batman’s back gets snapped like a twig. It would be an appropriately tragic end to a tragic Batman story, but way too predictable. Geez, I really hope I’m not right.

1. The Avengers
Of course it’s number one, did you fools think I would choose anything else over this colossal Marvel mash up 5 years in the making? Since Ironman in 2008 Marvel’s track record of putting this team together has been damn near flawless. Even the fantastical and potentially disastrous Thor movie was pretty badass. I can’t think of a better director to tackle such a project than Josh Whedon. His ability to tickle the senses of nerds around the world is unrivaled. The question isn’t “will The Avengers be successful?” its “how successful will it be?” Anything less than 400 million and 1 billion worldwide is a failure. Not a failure in that it will lose money, but a failure in that the audience did not respond appropriately…its the Avengers, why don’t you already have your tickets…COME ON!

Techpedition should review at least a few of these. I know I will setting up shop at midnight launches for several of these, so expect some sort of posts forthcoming. Happy summer Techpeditionland!

Random technology, gaming, comic, movie, television, and anime ramblings and entertainment from the techpedition pundits.

Episode Cast

James Allen Knotts, Carl Minor, and Clarence Brown

Episode Summary

Facebook buys Instagram for 1 billion dollars! Mass Effect aims to please the masses, Amazon’s App Store cut, Sony’s losses, a Bulletstorm of piracy, PS3/Vita Street Fighter X Tekken cross-play, California and GameStop’s used games, Resident Evil 6 dated, first annual MolyJam, Rock Band Blitz, Ultimate Spider-Man, Castlevania: Lords of Shadows, and Split/Second.

Episode Notes

• Facebook buys Instagram
• Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut coming this summer and some recent bug fixes
• Amazon App Store matches Apple revenue split for in app purchases
• Sony’s suffers record losses
• Bulletstorm 2 two put on hold
• Street Fighter X Tekken to feature PlayStation 3/PlayStation Vita cross-play
• California GameStop’s required to warn customers online fees for used games
• Resident Evil 6 dated
• The First Annual MolyJam Game Jam
• Rock Band Blitz Announced
• Ultimate Spider-Man
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadows
• Split/Second