Shmee.Me

July 22, 2015July 22, 2015

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II Just Got A Major Update! … Wait What?

‘Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords’ (nice short title there) turned ten on the PC this year, and it hasn’t had a major update in almost as long, but imagine my surprise when I looked in my Steam queue and there it was getting a 175 MB patch. It is a great update too. It includes widescreen support, save sync, Steam Achievements, a few bug fixes, modern controller support, and last but definitely not least mod support through Steam Workshop.

The widescreen support was a great addition since before you had to play the game in windowed mode for the game to run on a widescreen monitor, but the mod support is what really makes this update special because now to get all the unlocked content in the Restored Content Mod all you have to do is subscribe to it. It pretty much makes the unofficial patch official. Who knows maybe they will in the next update (we only have to wait ten years to find out).

If you didn’t play this game when it came out because it was a broken mess (who can blame you), there has never been a better time. Also since this game is always on sale it will probably only set you back a couple of bucks. It is great to see old games like this get fixed. I guess it is time to finish that Light Side play though I have always be meaning to get back to.

July 13, 2015July 13, 2015

San Diego Comic-Con 2015 Wrap-Up!

Another Comic-Con is gone, and all it gave us was a ton of awesome trailers. The Nerve! Oh, wait that is totally rad! I mean in the new Batman v Superman trailer (watch it here) we got to see Wonder Woman blow some stuff up. If you were quick enough to watch the trailers before they got pulled you got to see Deadpool murder people and make jokes in a very Deadpool way and the Joker get creepy. Both looked great.

Honestly Warner Bros. and Fox should know better and just release the trailers to the public. They can’t want their movies’ first intro to the public to be crappy blurry cam shots can they? We are all going to see it anyway, why fight us. Embrace the 21st century and let us watch our superhero footage! It is all we really want. We just want to watch guys and gals in capes punch each other! Is that too much to ask? I don’t think so.

Instead of a new trailer Disney released a behind the scenes reel (shown above), and it all looked very exciting. Especially Simon Pegg in an alien suit, so we will see where he turns up. The practical effects look amazing; I just want to go roll around on their set. I don’t care if I hate the heat (fat nerd syndrome) – I will make it work.

There is a lot, and I mean a lot of genre TV coming out, so if there was ever a doubt that geeky stuff is now mainstream, there isn’t now. But the coolest news for me was that we learned that The Flash is going full on multi-dimensional by introducing Jay Garrick the Golden Age/Earth 2 Flash, so now instead of just time travel we have multiple earths. Heck, I am in!

But the very best news of all, the news that I am happiest about: Pacific Rim 2 starts filming at the end of this year. So excited! I loves me some giant robot, that isn’t the abomination that is the Bayformers, action. My top news was almost that they are making a Green Lantern Corps movie, but since that isn’t until 2020 it is hard to get too excited about it (though I am pretty excited).

That is my wrap-up, what did you guys like from this year’s show?

July 8, 2015July 8, 2015

Shmee Casts The Young Han Solo!!!!

So I am going to get this out of the way right quick, Chris Pratt is not on this list. Disney is already paying him to play Han Solo in Guardians of the Galaxy, so I am not going to let him double dip, and honestly his name comes up first for everything these days, thus I have a little Chris Pratt fatigue. I actually struggled with this list a little because you need that certain smarmy charm to pull off the famed smuggler, so I had to ask The Paladin what he thought because if you need to know about hot young leading men in Hollywood you ask The Paladin. He knows. I kid, though I did ask him. We agreed on number one, and right off the bat number five was his choice, so here we go!

5: Taron Egerton

He was able to be the likable thug in Kingsman, so changing that to be a smuggler should be an easy adjustment. Plus he is still at the beginning of his career, so the paycheck wouldn’t sink the movie before it started.

4: Shawn Ashmore

I still have a hard time telling him and his brother apart, but Shawn Ashmore is the better actor. He should be done being Ice Man for X-Men for the time being, and he has a great resume. He usually plays things serious, but I think he could make Solo work. He would just need to be a better version of his brother from Killjoys (sorry Aaron, I really like Killjoys though).

3: Emile Hirsch

My problem with Emile Hirsch is that I am not sure he can smile on screen, but the photo above proves he at least has the concept down, and Han mostly smirks anyway. Really he is on this list because of Speed Racer. If you were in Speed Racer I want you to succeed. I am not sure there is anything more successful than Han Solo.

2: Liam Hemsworth

Liam Hemsworth hasn’t sold himself to me as an actor yet, though he hasn’t had a lot to work with in the Hunger Games movies, but he is just so dang dreamy. How can you not get lost in his eyes. Quit mesmerizing me you Australian siren! If he has any acting chops at all he would make a great Han Solo. Though I would be worried he would smuggle away the hearts of my wife and daughter.

1: Chris Pine

In the end there was only ever one choice for the new Solo, Chris Pine. I know he is Kirk already, but he just has the perfect devilish charm that you could hate and love all at the same time. Plus his version of Kirk was pretty much Han Solo anyway, so this would just confirm it. I know that is why I said I didn’t want Pratt to do it, but Pine doesn’t work for Disney just yet. The only real reason I can see him not doing this movie is because he may be the Green Lantern soon, or in Wonder Woman. Possibly both. Anyway that would be a huge loss for this new solo, Solo flick because he is perfect.

That is my list. Who do you think should be the new Han Solo? Let me know!

April 16, 2015

New Star Wars Trailer!

Need I say more. Watch you must!

April 2, 2015

Star Wars Versus Star Trek, Shmee’s Take!

io9.com recently had their Sci-Fi/Fantasy March Madness poll, and it came down to Star Wars versus Star Trek. It was a predictable final two, but one that was very hard for me to choose between. On the surface they appear to be similar: they take place in space, they have a multitude of alien species, and they both get in quite a few skirmishes, but they are in reality very different.

Star Wars is a mystic fantasy with a mysterious and powerful ancient religion, and no matter how far things progress, they will always stay the same. Humanity can’t get better than it is. There is no light without the dark. Star Trek on the other hand is totally Sci-Fi. Everything can be explained by science, and humanity is always getting better. Give humans more time, and they will make themselves in to better people.

Those are both interesting premises (one person broke it down between theocracy and communism, and he wasn’t far off), and I love to delve in to their worlds, but the fantasy element is what makes Star Wars end up winning this battle for me. It allows my imagination to run wild. Sure it is a bit pessimistic about human nature (so am I), but it gives me space ninjas with laser swords, and a hope that one day I will be able to turn off my light switch at night by just concentrating really hard. I guess I will always be thirteen.

That doesn’t mean the space exploration, and constant state of discovery that Star Trek provides is lost on me. It just doesn’t give my imagination the same sort of jump start that Star Wars does. I love both these franchises very much, but in the end if I had to pick one it would be Star Wars, prequels and all. I hope next year io9.com doesn’t force me to pick between DC and Marvel, because that would just be cruel.