E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is one of my favourites times of the year.  It’s even better than Christmas in a way.

This year is interesting mainly because all eyes are on Nintendo and its Wii U console.

Here is a list of the UK times (GMT) I put together for those who don’t want to miss the live stream presentations from all the big console manufacturers and publishers.  I’ve also included some sites where I usually watch my live streams.  It’s never a bad plan to have a back up in case one site fails.

MONDAY 4^TH JUNE

• Microsoft:        6pm
• EA:                     9pm
• Ubisoft:            11pm

TUESDAY 5^TH JUNE

• Sony:                 2am
• Nintendo:         5pm

LIVE STREAM SITES:

• IGN- all presentations
• GAMESPOT- all presentations
• GAMETRAILERS- all presentations
• Xbox Live- Microsoft’s presentation
• SONY WEBSITE- Sony’s presentation
• NINTENDO WEBSITE- Nintendo’s presentation

Check out this cool flow chart from Empire Magazine to test which of the superheroes you turn out to be.

Link- http://www.empireonline.com/features/avengers-flowchart/

(Disclaimer- I did not design this image and do not own it)

At the time of seeing the movie I hadn’t read the book so I was extra excited about seeing it.  The idea of discovering new mythologies and captivating stories is always pleasing.

After seeing the movie my overall impression is…..”meh”.  Don’t get me wrong it’s a good movie but it had so much opportunity to have been better.

I was looking forward to some emotional conflicts but was left disappointed.   Kids killing kids is never funny but I was anticipating that uncomfortable feeling of taking the side of the main character Katniss and justifying why it might be okay for her to kill her peers.

THE STORY OR LACK OF IT

The Hunger Games is a competition organised by a controlling State “The Capital” in a newfound country in the not too far future.  The games are organised every year to prove to the districts outside the capital that it still has power over them.  And yes, kids aged twelve to eighteen have to fight to the death.

A very interesting premise but one of my main problems with the film was that it failed to explain all these properly.  I started listening to the audio book yesterday and I got a much better understanding in one minute.

GOOD BUT ALMOST GREAT

Although people compare the Hunger Games to the Japanese film Battle Royale, they are quite different.  In fact, the Hunger Games could have been much more hard hitting.

These were my main problems, the kid on kids’ violence was not enough and the atmosphere surrounding the games was absent.  When I talk about the violence, I don’t mean gore per say but raw human instinct behaviour.

Human beings are very different at the point confronting death and I didn’t see this enough.  We do crazy shit to survive but the children died too soft if you ask me.  Or the conflicts surrounding their deaths were too soft.  That’s why I had a small disconnect with the kids, which are the main subjects here.

Secondly, apart from showing a few districts outside the capital during the games to catch reaction shots, I felt it wasn’t done enough.  I didn’t see any hope or lack of it, cheering, and excitement from the audiences in the capital especially.  All that talk about getting sponsors just felt undercooked in my opinion.

IN THE END

I would definitely recommend it and I would give it a three out of five stars.  If there were more moving scenes like when a particular character died I would have been more enthusiastic but I am still looking forward to the sequel.

Video below.

Yes I’ve been working on a new business with a friend on mine.  We’ve put together an e-commerce website selling video games in Nigeria.

As few of my friends know, I’m not shy in trying out new ideas so I’m hoping good things with this one.  We sell all console and handheld games from PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, PSP, DS and we also take special requests.

The website name is Playhardnigeria.com.  Screen shots below.

Click “Read more” to see all the pics. 

Recipe video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwwxNwVTnP4