Flickr Update: Tron Night

Just a few photos to supplement my Tron Night After Thoughts. There wasn't too much in terms of swag at the event, but I guess thats what happens when you blow your budget on renting out IMAX theaters across the world and offer a 23 minute free 3D sneak preview of your biggest film of the year. So what'd we get? At least at the theater I went to:

Nothing overly exciting; the first is a poster, the awesome one that I posted about last week, though it's slightly smaller than a standard movie poster, and has a few lines saying that it was printed exclusively for Tron Night (I managed to snag 3 of these, gave one to a friend). Next is my wristband that granted me entry, not really swag, but it's something. And the last two things were just little cardboard ads basically, but I took like five of each (they're something that could easily be signed and framed at a later date).

They also gave out a few swag bags for trivia winners, but there was no way I was gonna raise my hand and somehow get picked in a packed IMAX theater, so I can't tell you what was in those, but I think they had t-shirts. Oh well...

Late Night Flickr Update

Hey there, it's been quite a long time since we put the Flickr account to use, so I just put up to images. First off, my Encom Employee Badge:

You can still get one of these for yourself by visiting the TRON Legacy viral site, Flynn Lives, play the Arcade Aid game, and then register for the free badge. Once it arrives you can use it to access Encom's website. It's really simple, and the badge arrives quickly. Quite a neat piece of movie swag.

This one's pretty obvious, it's the sequel to the previous Club Nintendo exclusive Game & Watch Collection. I've yet to play it, but I'll review it once I do, just like the last one.

Blackest Night Rings

This is a few days late, but the Thanksgiving break has had be a bit busy. On Wednesday, DC Comics released the final two promotional rings for their Blackest Night story-arc, and I was able to finish my collection and photograph it for you:

Originally, DC only released the Black Lantern rings back in July with Blackest Night #1, but because the promotion seemed to do so well, they went and released all of the Lantern rings this month. So the first week had Doom Patrol #4 with the Sinestro Corps (Yellow) ring, and the 3 following weeks had 2 rings each released with a Blackest Night tie-in issue. Personally, I felt I shouldn't open these, but I really wanted Green and Black Lantern rings to wear so I bought multiple copies of their issues.

For those who don't know, Blackest Night is DC Comics' current major story arc that spans across the whole DC Universe. Basically, all of the DC Universe's dead heroes are being resurrected as Black Lanterns, undead beings that can sense emotion and eat the hearts of the living to gain power, and now it's up to Hal Jordan and a new spectra of other colored Lanterns to defeat them. I haven't been keeping up with every tie-in issue, but I will say the Blackest Night monthly issues themselves have been really good, especially the latest issue, number 5.

Want these rings for yourself? Stop by your local comic shop and ask about the promotional rings for Blackest Night, I'm sure someone there will able able to tell you all the titles that come with which rings.

After Thoughts: Awakening signing at Jim Hanley's Universe

Whoa, what's this? Actual content after a three day gap? Yes, and this content is pretty neat, I think. As you may have known by following our Twitter account (and if you don't, I'm upset with you), the artist, Alex Eckman-Lawn, and author, Nick Tapalansky, of Archaia Comics' Awakening came to Jim Hanley's Universe in New York City today to finish up their Halloween signing tour.

So, order of events: Today was a pretty gross day in New York, what with the raining continuing from last night, and then there's the fact that Jim Hanley's Universe (which is located right across from the Empire State Building) isn't exactly right next to where I live, so that meant I had to walk a nice distance in the rain as well. But who cares, right? Let's get to the good stuff!

The signing was scheduled from 4-7 PM, but being the person I am that thinks I do things much slower than I actually seem to do, I got to Jim Hanley's at around 3:20. And to my surprise, no one was there yet (despite the staff their telling me I should arrive early a few weeks ago). So, I decided to do some browsing while I waited for everything to start, and I soon saw Alex Eckman-Lawn arrive. Now, here's a fun fact, Alex and I frequently talk online (not that it has any effect on how I write regarding his work) but we'd never spoken in person.

Being a not-creeper, I went up to him, introduced myself and we soon went browsing around the shop. And I'll tell you this much, browsing comics with somebody who's actually in the industry is pretty rad (and yes, I use the word rad). Nick Tapalansky was stuck in traffic (and who can blame him, it's NYC and crappy weather) but when he eventually came I said hello and he joked about the "password" I was supposed to say if I arrived without my book. I then took a couple of photos of the two of them to post here, but of course I failed and the few I took at the moment came out blurry...

Eventually the signing started... but I was the only one there still. Which was surprising but I'm still unsure, I mean, the book isn't exactly HUGE in terms of media coverage, and the creative team (Alex and Nick) isn't exactly well known, and Archaia isn't exactly the money-house that is Marvel; plus, I'm sure the bad weather drove away an casual shoppers looking to get some autographs of people they don't know. Regardless of what was on everyone else's mind, I have to say, I enjoyed browsing comics with Alex and I appreciated Nick's humor of saying that I'd get a post up here on VFH within the hour (which I didn't, sorry Nick! Ha ha). Can't really ask for much more than that, especially on a crappy day like this, I just hope that more people showed up after me because these guys deserve it.

Also, by showing up to the signing, I should be getting a preview of the next Awakening book within the next few days. When I do, I'll be sure to share my thoughts with you readers.

More thoughts at The Work of Jared D. Weiss

Awakening finally arrives!

After a year of delay due to the restructuring of Archaia Comics (formerly Archaia Studios Press), a halt to stand-alone issues, then an additional month delay from the original June release date, not to mention some shipping delays... Awakening Volume One has finally arrived in my hands!

As you may recall, that there is the Alex Eckman-Lawn signed print I had mentioned as part of DCBS's pre-order deal, which I not only endorsed but took part in as well. Sadly it was also this print that cause a fifteen day or so delay in shipping.. which I wasn't too fond of.

Regardless, it's here now, and I hope the rest of you out there that pre-ordered this book have also received yours by now. I can't to finally sit down, read this, and admire the artwork... not to mention review it sooner or later. Stay tuned!

Media Update: Kaiser Chiefs and Green Day at Madison Square Garden

I know, it's 3:30 AM right now, and I'm tired as hell. While my After Thoughts for Green Day's concert at Madison Square Garden last night may not be up yet, I've already gone and posted some photos on our Flickr and some videos on our YouTube channel, VFHvideo, of both Green Day and opening band, Kaiser Chiefs.

(click to see the whole gallery at Flickr!)


Kaiser Chiefs - "Everyday I Love You Less and Less"
(Also watch "Oh My God" at VFHvideo)


Green Day - "Song of the Century" / "21st Century Breakdown"
(Also watch "Jaded" at VFHvideo)

Not much to go by right now, I know, but I assure you the After Thoughts for the show will be up later today. And yes, if you're curious I did take more photos, but Flickr has a lot of file/bandwidth limits so I had to really pick and choose what would be posted or not; as for videos, what you see is all I took, though I'm sure you'll be able to find more on YouTube sooner or later. Enjoy! And just in case you were curious, the show was awesome!

Flickr Update: Star Trek plate

Just one lonely photograph, but I was pretty excited when I arrived home tonight, as my Star Trek collector's plate came in the mail! Sure it's just eight inches in diameter, and made of plastic, but you don't have one do you? That's what I thought!

As you can see, I stay true to my collector's OCD by not removing it from the sealed plastic (just like before, and before again). Like I said before, it's average size, and made of plastic, but what you can't see from the photo is that the central image is actual a lenticular print of the Enterprise coming at you; nothing amazing, but I just thought I'd let you know.

To get the plate I sent in two "proof of purchase tokens" from the back off Kellogg's Eggo products, with a (I believe) $3.99 check which included shipping. So all in all, it was about $8 for what I guess should be considered a collector's item, and who knows what it'll be worth in the distant future...

Flickr Update: Star Trek glasses

As reported the other day, Burger King now has four collector's glasses available as a promotion for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, which released in theaters yesterday (and I'm still desperate to see it). But while I may not of had the chance to see the film, I was able to get to my local Burger King and inquire about the glasses. And thankfully for my health, I found out that I don't need to buy four value meals to get all four glasses, I simply just had to order one food item and the cups would still be $1.99 each. So with one 4-piece chicken nuggets, the four glasses, and tax, my total was $9.59; not bad, in my opinion.

As you can see, I've decided not to use these glasses, let alone remove their protective plastic, because of my "collector's OCD". However, I'm quite fond of the Spock glass, and I'm thinking of buying a second one so that I can actually use it. These glasses are only available this month, so if you're liking how they look in pictures, you may want to pick them up for yourself while you still can!

After Thoughts: Free Comic Book Day 2009

As you may have known, whether it be from my constant reminders or otherwise, today was Free Comic Book Day across North America. Being in the city increased my freebies, as I actually visited three shops, each with their own way of handing out the free books.

First shop of the day was Forbidden Planet, considered to be one of the premiere comic shops in New York City; and they even have some other global stores. I arrived early, because I found out last week that the first 300 customers would receive all of the day's comics, where as later customers would only receive a few. When I arrive at about 9:20, there was already a line of 50 or so people, so I was pretty much set. Apparently Hugh Jackman was at the store yesterday, so there was a lot of promo stuff left over for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In fact, I got me two foam claws, and a FCBD issue of Wolverine, actually signed by Hugh Jackman; lucky me!

As for exactly what I got? Where to start?! List is in same order as photos, left to right: G.I. Joe/Transformers Animated double issue (IDW), Worlds of Aspen (Aspen), Nascar Heroes (Nascar Comics), John Stanley's Melvin Monster/Nancy double issue (Drawn & Quarterly), Radical sampler (Radical Comics), Love & Rockets: New Stories FCBD (Fantagraphics), Impact University vol. 5 (Impact), Hot Lists (Wizard), DC Kids #1 (DC), Warhammer Online: Prelude to War (Boom! Studios), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 25th Anniversay reprint (Mirage), Contract #1 (First Salvo), Cyber Force/Hunter Killer: First Look (Top Cow), Cartoon Palooza #2 (Ape Entertainment), Bongo Comics Free-For-All! (Bongo), Comics Festival! (Legion of Evil Press), Cars: The Rookie #1 (Boom! Kids), Blackest Night #0 (DC), Atomic Robo/Drone/We Kill Monsters (Red 5), The Mighty Archie Art Players #1 (Archie), Arcana Presents (Arcana), Shonen Jump Special (Viz Media), Owly and Friends (Top Shelf), Aliens/Predator double issue (Dark Horse), Resurrection (Oni Press), Savage Dragon #148 (Image), Star Wars: The Clone Wars/FCBD sampler (Dark Horse), Sonic: Evolution of a Hero (Archie), Studio 407 Sampler (Studio 407), The Stuff of Legend (Th3rd World Studios), Attack of the Alterna Zombies! #1 (Alterna), Wolverine: Origin of an X-Man (Marvel), and a Magic the Gathering novel sampler. In short, I got a hell of a lot; like, it took me over an hour to get that all down.

The next shop I went to was just a few blocks away, St. Mark's Comics. It was the first time I've ever been to the store, and quite frankly, I can't find a reason to ever go back there. I didn't even bother getting free comics there, because they basically were only handing each customer one issue from the day's selections. I know they're free, but there's no need to hoard.

The last shop, Cosmic Comics, is shop I have been to before. It's not a place that will blow you away, but if you're looking for back-issues they have a decent selection. The way they set up their Free Comic Book Day was with a line up on the wall, a decent amount of the day's titles were available, and each customer was allowed to choose 8. I picked a few doubles of what I had already, but I also got a hold of a few I surprisingly didn't get from Forbidden Planet.

From left to right again: Mercy Sparx #1 (Devil's Due), Star Wars: The Clone Wars/FCBD sampler (Dark Horse), The Avengers (Marvel), Blackest Night #0 (DC), *explanation below*, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 25th Anniversay reprint (Mirage), William Shatner Presents (Blue Water), Fist of Justice (Digital Webbing Press), and Gold Digger #1 (AP Entertainment).

The middle comic is interesting. As I went to check out, what I assume was the manager handed me an old looking comic, Battlestar Galactica #1, published by Marvel. The book feels old, looks old, and I even checked inside and all I could find were copyrights for 1979, nothing about reprints or anything, and this thing is mint! So, luckily, I bought some sleeves with cardboard backing and I put the issue in right away. If this thing is for real, then that's pretty cool, but I'll have to look into it. Oh, I also bought the first issue of Scott Pilgrim while I was there, so you can hopefully look forward to a review later.

All in all I think today was good. I got a huge selection of comics thanks to Forbidden Planet's generousity, and the fact that I got stuff from two store. Personal highlights: Blackest Night #0 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, if you try to get anything from today, get those. Sure a lot of the others may be crap, but it's crap I didn't have to pay for, and who can argue with that? How did everyone else fair with Free Comic Book Day?

Visit FreeComicBookDay.com for more info on all these comics.

Nintendo DSi hands-on impressions

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay (despite it actually being a shorter wait than I had thought) but my DSi finally arrived today at six o'clock. Apparently a package can sit in a UPS truck for 13 hours before you get it, even though the shipping plant is just 15 min away... Anyways let's open up with some pictures I added to Flickr:

Sorry for no DS lite in the comparison shots, but I don't have one.

Quick note about the no DS lite, the video feature I have planned in the coming week will be about convincing early adopters of the original DS who didn't upgrade to the DS lite to finally take a step up; because I know I wasn't the only one out there in that situation.

For me, the first thing I noticed, other than the weird yet surprisingly comfortable matte finish, was the screens. Not only are they noticeably larger by comparison, but they're significantly brighter (but I again can't speak for the DS lite), and have less of a glare; heck the touch screen doesn't even get all those lines on it from the stylus. Speaking of the stylus, I was leary at first going from the tiny DS stylus that I was oh so used to the DSi's new, larger stylus. However, after a few run throughs with the DSi's various appilications I found it to be more comfortable, and well... better; I just have to get used to its placement in the system.

While the screens are bigger, the resolution stays the same, which I don't think makes a huge difference. However, while playing Mario Kart DS, the menus looked more jagged to me, though I can't really put the blame on the image being stretched, or if it's just the fact that it may of always looked that way and it only took the bright screen of the DSi for me to actually notice it.

App-wise, I purchased WarioWare: Snapped!(yet to play it) and the DSi Brower (Free) with the 1000 points Nintendo gives with every DSi. On my wifi, the downloads were much quicker than I expected, and I was able to get two downloads quicker than I have an NES game on the Wii Shop Channel. The browser is actually quite nice, though I'll the spare details until the actual review. As for what comes with the system, I played around with the camera, which was fun to an extent, but I had issues with some of the color filters due to my lighting. The Nintendo DSi Sound .. channel?.. was actually pretty fun; it was neat to be able hear my favorite songs and play around with it to make Eddie Vedder sound like Satan himself, or to twist and warp my own voice; not to mention, some of those music visualizer are neat (especially the Excitebike and Mario ones).

Lastly.. what else can I say? I've only had an hour or so to play around with the system because it arrived late, and I wanted to get the battery drained before I got into any serious gameplay (so yes, it is still charging). I also was able to transfer my Nintendo WiFi Connection stats from my old DS to my DSi in a procedure that was actually quite simple and easy, just incase you don't want to wory about remembering all new friend codes.

If there's anything I wish the DSi did have, other than say GBA support (though I can live without, being I have every GBA model) is I wish there was more networking to it. Like, why can't I have DSi friends like I do Wii friends, and have the ability to share photos and sound clips? Or even better, have the ability to share and recieve with Wii consoles? I mean, i'm sure it is possible with a firmware upgrade on both ends, but it's something I'd of liked to seen out of the box.

Other than that, if you still have an original DS, I'd say it's about time to upgrade, at least for the new hardware features like the internal memory, SD/SDHC support, cameras, and improved screens/speakers. But if you're a GBA purist, I wouldn't get rid of the old DS if you don't have any other way to play those games; I would get the DSi to supplement your gaming experience. My hope really comes down to the DSi Shop, if there's games there that you can't find anywhere else, than that will have to be your selling point, especially when the DSi sells for $170, while the still GBA compatible, yet extra feature-less DS lite runs for $130.

Hope this helps your purchase decisions!

Flickr Update: Press Media cleanout

With today's release of the Nintendo DSi and Rhythm Heaven, I've gone and deleted the entire Press Media set we had over at Flickr.

As you may remember, last month we ran into an issue where Flick told us we could only have a certain number of images; therefore we began removing press shots of games already released. But with today's releases, it left the section pretty much empty, and therefore it is now completely gone.

Don't act like you miss it. And just a forewarning, next snag we run into, I'll start deleting my Empire State Building shots, as they have no views, and no longer serve much of a purpose for VFH.

Update: Thought ahead, and just deleted all the Empire State Building photos. Once again, don't all complain at once...

Flickr Update: Pokemon Platinum

Look what arrived in the mail this afternoon! Pokemon Platinum as well as my Giratina Origin Forme figure, for pre-ordering. Had I known the figure was going to be sealed in a air-tight foil bag, I may have reconsidered ... cause there's no *bleeping* way I'll actually tear that open. Collector's OCD, sorry.

Have yet to play the game, but it is in my DS, ready to go. I may post some impressions soon, as it's the first DS Pokemon game I'm playing ... as I opted out of getting Diamond or Pearl because I assumed the inevitable 3rd game would release. And considering there's a Pokemon Emerald cart in my DS Phat right now, I'm sure you can see it's not the first time I've waited.

Just a note, these games are notoriously long, I have a busy schedule till May, and there's no wifi where I'm at right now, so I can't promise a review just yet. But hopefully we can get something up here soon!

GTA: Chinatown Wars Swag Get

A door bell wakes me up this morning, and after struggling to find a shirt to put on, I make my way to the door to open it and find no one. Those damn ninjas ... or speedy UPS man who doesn't want to wait around to deliver the package.

I figured it had to be GTA: Chinatown Wars, as I was expecting to get it sometime this week, and to my enjoyment, it was, along with some neat swag. Rockstar has been all about giving out stickers and shirts lately, and they don't seem to be stopping that trend anytime soon. Today, along with the game, which I will review hopefully this week, I got a t-shirt, a bunch of stickers, and some cool chopstick styli.

I took some pictures for your enjoyment / to rub it in your face, and you can check them out at our Flickr account. Enjoy, and keep checking back for our review.

Another Flickr Update: DELETE

Because the the last two posts weren't about Flickr (yes, sarcasm) I have to make another post. Turns out not only are standard Flickr accounts only limited to 100MB of uploads per month, you're also only limited to 200 pictures, total ... unless you pay about $30 a year for a pro account. And since no likes to look at our account, I see no need to pay for one just yet.

So, to work around this, I've decided to delete what is taking up a bulk of the account, press media. Not everything will be deleted, just anything with low views or just plain old, i.e. media from last years E3 is completely unnecessary now. Hope I don't hurt any feelings, but I doubt it because I know how many times the images were viewed, and lets just say ... they weren't.

Update: Thought of a new policy, any press media we have we'll keep until those titles are released, i.e. Patapon 2 and Wii Sports Resort media stays, but Loco Roco 2, LittleBigPlanet, and Wii Music stuff gets deleted. I think that's fair, don't you?

Flickr Update: MadWorld

Hey there readers, I just picked up Sega and Platinum Games' first title, MadWorld, for Nintendo Wii. And in such, here's some pictures for you to see:


Yeah, I went ahead and personalized this one with a picture of MadWorld's Jack chainsawing our very own Viewbear. Just a personal touch! Should have a review of the game sometime this week.

Flickr Update: Game & Watch Collection, James Franco Q&A

I know, it's been quite some time since I got the Club Nintendo exclusive Game & Watch Collection, and much like we did with Zach's hanafuda cards, I intended to get photos of the game onto our Flickr account. But then, as you may have remembered, my camera died.

But that's all settled now that I got my new Sony DSC-T77, which has 10.1 megapixel resolution, 5 more than my old one, as well as full touch screen controls. It's taken some getting used to, but I'm liking the the quality of the pictures it takes, so I suppose that's what matters. Here's your pack shots:

Anyone else get this collection? What did you think? Worth all 800 of those Coins?

Also, added a collage of photos taken with my crappy cellphone from the James Franco Q&A.

DSi in North America on April 5th

Yes, finally the most solid of announcements has arrived. Nintendo of America has announced that the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo DSi, will arrive on our shores coming April 5, 2009. The system will retail for an MSRP of $169.99; which is just $30 more than the current DS lite, but equal in price to a core PSP-3000.


As you can see above, the DSi will be launching in two colors for North America: Onyx and Blue, dropping the White model previously available in Japan. Also interesting, Nintendo has taken the Sony approach of adding icons to the package to display what the system can do, such as: doubling as a bag, capable of receiving waves, and granting you permission to speak with a box. But seriously, it's just pointing out the camera, mp3, DSi Shop, WiFi, and chat abilities.

Also on April 5th, Nintendo has announced that Rhythm Heaven will be released... thus forcing me to get a DSi. Why? Because I'm still using a DS Phat, and I planned to get Rhythm Heaven at launch; if I'm going to be at the store on thesame day .. I might as well buy the system. Plus, for me, the DSi isn't going to replace my DS Phat, as in my mind it's more so a different console than DS lite was. For one, there's no GBA slot, so if I want those features of certain DS games, I'll need my old one still, but at the same time it has DSiWare and camera features that can be used in games; it's not just a new body with brighter screens.

So, yes, hopefully this April you can look forward to both coverage of the DSi launch, as well as a Rhythm Heaven review. See you then!

Full press release at Nintendo Press Room
Official website: www.NintendoDSi.com

Flickr update: James Franco

As stated, I tried to upload what pictures I was able to take at the Q&A last night. And after a busy night and day, I just realized I didn't post here that I uploaded two pics. But apparently that didn't matter, because the two shots have become some of the most viewed images in our Flickr account.


The first shot is just 3/4 of the super-packed audience, so nothing overly exciting. The second shot however has James sitting with the interviewer. When I checked my phone, it turns out I took 22 pics in total. The problem is, without a microSD card, it's a total pain to send each image individually to our e-mail. So, when my microSD card arrives, I plan to compile all those lower-res images into one big one, and I'll probably inform you when that's up. Enjoy these for now though.

Thanks from Nintendo

So, I went to check my mail today, and to my...surprise, I got a letter from Nintendo. Apparently, when converting from My Nintendo to Club Nintendo, someone took note of how many products I had registered, and so they sent me a little thank you letter "from" Reggie.

The letter simply says that I had a lot of things registered and that I must be a big fan, and along with the letter, they sent a letter-sized picture of the Mario gang saying thanks, "signed" by Reggie. It's actually printed, not actually autographed, which is kind of lame, but it's a neat little token of their appreciation which is always cool.

Goodbye, Sony DSC-T1

PPG_05,
originally uploaded by VFH.

There it is, the last photo taken on my Sony DSC-T1 digital camera. For those unaware, the DSC-T1 was Sony's first ultra-thin compact camera, a.k.a. Cybershot, released in 2004. I got it back when it first released, so it's lasted decently long for new technology. Basically what happened is the charge-coupled device (CCD) died. The CCD is what enables the camera to see, so without that, there's no photo, just a black screen. In recent weeks I had been getting odd scan lines on my screen, but then today it went black. I can see the menus and previous photos fine however, so I know it's not the screen's fault.

Well, at least it lasted me four years, right? Technology...

Note, this is my first post directly from Flickr. Just trying out the feature.