DigitalLostBoys.com

Video: How I Survived a Japanese Gameshow

Stephen — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:00:00 +0000

So today I’m just making final preparations for a BBQ with my family and friends. In the meantime, I was recently introduced by this strange new show on ABC called “How I Survived a Japanese Gameshow”. The premise is that 10 American contestants are flown to Japan to compete in the “ultimate” Japanese reality game show. What’s really interesting about the show is that Japanese gameshows are known to be unique and over-the-top competitions. A lot of the events are usually strange and wacky but definitely creative (I’m surprised that North America doesn’t follow suit with these hiliarious gameshows. Anyhow, in the end, one contestant will take home $250,000 cash.

The show started airing on June 24th (every Tuesday night) and I got the chance to watch a couple of events from the first 2 episodes and I say it’s pretty funny stuff. Take a look at the preview clip below:

When I watch this I’m definitely reminded of the “Most Extreme Elimination Challenge” or “MXC” on Spike TV. I’m sure these shows must be popular in Japan since they seem to be commonplace…perhaps American networks are taking notice and hoping the popularity will carryover across the ocean? I guess only time will tell.

-Stephen

Cool Nintendo DS Lightsaber Stylus!

Stephen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:00:10 +0000

So today I have the day off since it’s Independence Day in the U.S. and I work for an American company. Anyhow, as I was surfing on the net, I saw these really neat looking Nintendo DS styluses in the form of Lightsabers! Apparently they are official Nintendo licensed products in conjunction with Star Wars. They either come in a three-pack of plastic styluses or a two pack where the styluses light up!

These definitely would be cool gift for those Star Wars fanatics. Now if only there was a decent Star Wars game on the Nintendo DS and then we’re all set!

-Stephen

Video: James Bond Movie Preview

Stephen — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:00:39 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I think the new James Bond movies starring Daniel Craig are actually pretty good and has gotten me interested in watching them. The newest Bond film (which would be the 22nd title in the Bond series) entitled, Quantam of Solace, looks like it happens directly after events of the last movie, Casino Royal. For those of you who haven’t watched the last film, I won’t spoil it for you, but basically the “new” Bond looks to be out for revenge and is going against his superiors (namely his boss “M”). Anyhow, here is a short teaser clip of the movie:

I think sudden “resets” of established franchises like James Bond and Batman, the characters seemed to be edgier, darker and more believable as the flawed anti-hero (as opposed to boyscouts like Superman). Anyhow, until November 7th, I guess I’ll have to watch the previous 21 Bond films to tide me over…lol.

-Stephen

Video: Chi Power In Action

Stephen — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:00:06 +0000

Since I was young, I was pretty skeptical about a lot of Chinese superstitions and phenomenons because they either didn’t work or didn’t make much sense. I found that many of these mystical powers/abilities played on people’s beliefs and fears and thus deceiving them into thinking it’s miraculous. However, I’ve seen some phenomenon that neither I or even science can explain. One example is the ability of “Chi Gong”, or rather the ability to harness one inner energy (chi) to do many extraordinary feats. Check out this video:

I’ve also seen other miraculous feats of strength, speed and agility when it comes to utilizing chi and meditating. Perhaps it’s not too farfetched that ancient Chinese people could supposedly fly through the air and shoot fireballs….or maybe not…lol.

-Stephen

Rockband 2 is Announced

Stephen — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:00:38 +0000

First off, for all those Canadians out there, Happy Canada Day! Hopefully the weather is nice today so I can go play some softball and maybe watch some fireworks. Also, it was recently announced by Harmonix that Rockband 2 will be coming for the XBox 360 in September and on the PS3 later on in the year. Apparently, the game will allow cross downloading of downloadable content (DLC), which means that the songs you’ve purchased on Rockband 1 can be played on Rockband 2 and the starting music list may reach 300 titles. As far is Harmonix is concerned, they don’t see any difference between downloadable content. The songs will feature master recordings on disc (better sound quality) and an overall improvement in online play.

Also, Rockband 2 will boast new instruments which are supposedly more quieter, more realistic and more reliable than the original set. But for those of us with the original instruments, they will still work for the new game. I think this feature alone will make fans want to stick with Rockband rather than switch over to other games like Konami’s Band Revolution or Activision’s Guitar Hero IV. I’m sure many gamers have already spent well over $200+ on plastic instruments, I’m sure they don’t wish to shell out even more so.

-Stephen

Marty McFly’s Shoes A Reality?

Stephen — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:00:59 +0000

Well, I’m not really one to get excited by new shoes, but the pair above are definitely more interesting than any pair of shoes. For those of you who are old enough, do you remember watching Back to the Future II when Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) went to the future (the year 2015) with Doc (played by Christopher Lloyd) and he was wearing those neat high-top sneakers which laced themselves? Well, Nike has recently announced a new pair of shoes which are inspired by those shoes from the movie.

The “Marty McFly 2015’s” will be released as Nike Hyperdunks and will apparently be produced with Nike’s own super-lightweight materials (but unfortunately will not come with the autolacing feature). The shoes have been worn and promoted by Kobe Bryant and has been wearing the black version of the hyperdunks.

Though I haven’t found any confirmation as to when the actual release date is, I’ve heard rumours that these futuristic shoes will be available in the next few weeks. I’m wondering if they plan on marketing this shoe utilizing the movie reference in order to get the techies excited. Either way, I may be tempted in getting these shoes because of their unique yet reminiscent look.

-Stephen

Video: Cool Air Piano!

Stephen — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:00:55 +0000

So you’ve probably seen people play instruments like the air guitar whereby people pretend to play an actual guitar by mimicking the movements. However, recently I found a video whereby a person appears to be playing a piano like instrument without actually touching any keys! What’s also neat is that the instrument actually recognizes to hold certain notes by keeping your hand in place and it also produces different notes depending at which height you move your hand as well. Check it out:

It’s cool instuments like these which may start legitmacy of creating other “air” instruments. I’m still waiting to see “air guitars” that actually play music. =)

-Stephen

Video: Finally! Diablo III Is Announced!

Stephen — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:00:06 +0000

Well, it looks as though the rumours are true and Blizzard has finally announced the third part in the Diablo series, Diablo III. I know gamers like myself whom have played the previous 2 games are excited by news…just like last spring when they announced the production of Starcraft II. Gamers today were treated to the following teaser trailer:

What is amazing is that they showed quite a bit of the gameplay and it’s exciting to see our beloved Diablo in high resolution. I definitely think it’s about time that Blizzard start to update many of their classic titles for the current generation and allow gamers today to experience these amazing games and continue your epic journey. Anyhow check out the rest of the preview videos and keep your fingers crossed that they don’t take too long to release this baby! =)

-Stephen

Video: Review of Battlefield: Bad Company

Stephen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:00:49 +0000

If you are like me, I tend to check up on reviews on games prior to actually purchasing them in order to hopefully get a good idea of what the game is actually like and if it’s worth my while spend my hard earned cash. That was the case when I first started to hear about Battlefield: Bad Company. I’ve had the opportunity to play the previous Battlefield games on the PC and I really enjoyed the experience. I think what was strong about the series was the multiplayer environments and the interactivity.

This time around it looks as though Electronic Arts and Digital Interactive are trying to carryover the experience onto console gaming. Plus along the way, you get to play a band of misfits who seemed to have many moments of comic relief. Anyhow, check out the review below from IGN (though it’s for the XBox 360, the experience should be similar to the PS3):

It’s definitely great to be able to interact with your surrounding with fully distructable environments and have the landscape change by the amount of destruction inflicted. Plus with the ability to have up to 24 players online, it’ll be fun online battles with your buddies and blowing off some steam from work. As soon as I finish Metal Gear Solid 4 (it’s been slow going for me…I’m just savouring it), I’ll definitely take a look at Battlefield: Bad Company.

-Stephen

Video: Leaked Footage of Gears of War II Beta

Stephen — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:00:33 +0000

I’d imagine that XBox 360 owners are eagerly awaiting the release of the sequel to the hit series, Gears of War. Well, although the game is not yet been released, at least fans can watch some more leaked footage of the game on the Internet. Though the quality isn’t the greatest, it’s definitely neat to see some of the levels and features of the game. It’s probably best to watch it asap since it seems these days YouTube.com is quick to remove licensed videos from their network. Anyhow, enjoy while it lasts! =)

-Stephen