Smashing Pumpkins : The VIP experience

Smashing Pumpkins is one of my favorite bands of all time and I had the chance to live the VIP experience with them in Toronto thanks to ILoveAllAccess.

The Pumpkins were playing at a small venue, Massey Hall, in Toronto for two days with two totally different shows ... 24 different songs (3 hours) per show in this 20th anniversary tour of their existence.

I decided to get the special VIP pass which promised : a meet and greet with the band, a photoshoot, a snack + free drinks, souvenirs + audio of the show + a ticket in the first 10 rows of the theatre.

I was so happy to have this possibility to meet them finally after all those years of contemplating their music and "dancing" to it. But at the same time, I hoped it wouldnt be a cheap and cheezy greet from distance from musicians who didnt really cared about their fans ... after all they have done so much would they be friendly and down to earth...

The answer is : YES!!!

This was the best experience Ive had in my concert goer and one of the most incredible event of my life ... seriously! Cannot be beaten!

So how did it went ?

The show was at 8pm (no first act) and we had to be there at 5pm to start our wonderful to be evening. We met Jeff our great host who gave us our shwag bag which included ticket, shirt, discount, (future mug), keyring, VIP pass to be worn at all times.

Then he told us that we could see the band's soundcheck ... what !?! Yes ... so we went in while they were rehearsing their songs and we sat down in the first row. We saw Billy comment on every mistake the band members made (mostly the new bassist Ginger) and what direction they should take for that song etc... First glimpse into the way they do it !

Then Billy stopped the soundcheck to come and greet us with the help of Jimmy!!! We lined up to get something autographed by them, we could talk to them 1 on 1 while they were signing and taking our picture, they were so opened and seem to enjoy our company and they were so calm.

The band had to finish their soundcheck before 6h so they had to pause the signings and finish the last 15 minutes of sound check before coming back to us. Then I finally got to talk to him since I was one of the last ones ... that was stressful (to meet and talk to one of your idols) and during the photoshoot I could smile since i was too stressed lol.

After that, Billy and Jimmy decided to answer all our questions so they sat there on the edge of the stage to provide us with truthful answers and I was surprised at how calm and opened they really were. We had a lot of insights into their brains like that. I asked a question about Melissa Auf Der Maur :)

After that we went downstairs for a pre-party at the bar with free drinks and a good snack! I met and talked to so many great people who loved Smashing as much as I did if not more and it was awesome. Jeff was a great host and really great to talk to. Then at 8pm he told us that we still had a show soon... oh yes thats true ... we had a show ... after all that (incredible evening) the main event wasnt even done.

I got my ticket out and found out it was in the very first row and right in the center of the stage!!!!! thanks ILoveAccess :) wow I was right there with the band playing in front of me with less than 2 meters away Billy was singing and walking in front of me. Great place to take pictures and videos of the night. Obviously thats what I did he he.

Great show for 3 hours with Billy having fun on stage with his bandmates.

only regret ... i didnt go to the second show who's setlist was a lot better than my show ... but it was soldout and my plane was leaving at 12pm...

new games played ...

Dark Sector :
--------------

I played this game for a while, but I really didnt find anything special about it ... I guess I wanted another kind of adventure... the setting of the game changed so many times during its production and now its kinda ... not what I expected.

So I didnt like the story. Maybe its the way its told, maybe the subject I didnt care about and cinematics werent that interesting. I felt bored during those moments.

Using your hand weapon is not really useful since its hard to aim precisely and the range it has makes it hard to hit somebody plus it doesnt do a lot of damage. Also, to throw it harder you have a 1-second delay that you have to guess and release the button otherwise it throws normally which gets frustrating at times. You need to use it and combine it with elements such as fire, electricity and ice to move forward in some areas...

I would only shoot if that was possible using weapons taken from enemies, but wait ... you cant after 5 seconds and you have to drop it ...zzzzz

I quit during a boss battle since I was frustrated at some inconsistence with the freezing aspect.

Dead Space:
--------------

I just started this game and it is awesome!! The atmosphere makes this horror game just one of the best thing since Bioshock or Event Horizon (movie) from which it takes a lot of elements.

Sound design and music scares me and hints at the direction from which monsters are coming ... they are everywhere!!!

While playing in the dark you will feel immersed incredibly and you will jump all over the place... monsters are scary, fast and jumping all over the place to get you or other humans that are still alive. The diversity of monsters and the way to kill them is new and worth looking at and experiencing.

Sometimes it might be hard to know where to go next since you are scared, there are a lot of doors and paths and the map kinda sucks ... but the path is shown to you when you press a button so Im using it a lot, but also exploring a lot to get items that are thrown around.

Love the way they are telling the story using audio logs (bioshock) and videos, even though I dont like the green interface that pops for the video cuz I feel its hard to look at sometimes with the camera and hides whats in front of you.

great experience.

Yakuza 2 (ps2)
-------------------

I just started this one. They are using Shenmue's engine and worked on it since then ... and it shows because they have a lot of npcs on screen in the cities which are illuminated, interactive, contain a lot of interior stores and npcs reacting to the weather and doing stuff without to many repetitions in the npc models.

the story starts really slow in cinematics, but then action starts.

good fighting system which has to be mastered which gives special attacks when done right ;)

will need to continue playing it.

Ratchet : Quest for ...
-------------------------

As always this new Ratchet is great... i like the humor, the weapons, the flow of the game.

obviously its more of what the ps3 version was so if you didnt like it then ... you wont like this one either.

Uncharted : Drakes Fortune
---------------------------------

Replayed a little bit of this game which I loved the first time I played through.
Wanted to remember how much I liked it the first time and its one of the best title on the ps3.
The animation system makes the characters believable. It contains a lot of animations that react to the environment pretty well. (i.e. inside the nazi sub)
Level flow is well done and its hard to get lost which always happens in such games. Moreover, the frustration of falling and dying all the time (i.e. PoP, Tomb Raider) is almost not present here since the levels are made to avoid those areas and the animations take it into account when you jump and react to whats around.

game to buy!

Book : Wizard of Oz

I just finished the book "The Wizard Of Oz".

The movie is good, but like all adaptations the book is better.

A lot of details are different from the movie including the areas they visit, the different characters, the way the story is told has a better flow and contains more action and is a lot more
violent.

just wanted to say that its a must read ;)

Back...little reviews

Finally got my internet connection back at home ... so will be updating soon with game ideas.

For now here are some thoughts on some games i've played lately:

Braid :
This is a great platformer. I liked the art direction which is always good for the eyes, the story is innovative from a Super Mario perspective (save the princess) and the music could be listened to at any time to reflex ... it fits so well in the universe. Some of the puzzles are really hard when you dont look carefully or try something you would have never thought you could do (which makes the game clever and refreshing) and when you get the puzzle you feel great about yourself. Every world is different and new. I really liked the world where you use your shadow to solve puzzles. The last world (world 1) is so different from the game since its action oriented and makes sense to finish the game... overall i really enjoyed!

Star wars Force Unleashed (ps3):
The story is awesome ... worth playing the game just for the cinematics and story that links all movies! All levels that include vegetation graphically are just badly done. There are a lot of graphical bugs in the game. The bosses are great to play against (hard and all different), but way too easy once you find their weakness (especially darth vader). Anyway its cool to fight all those jedis. The powers are cool and its fun to be this dark side jedi. Gameplay might become redundant pretty fast. Ending is great! if you like Star Wars you'll like the story of the game ... at least!

Bionic Commando Rearmed (360):
Great graphics. I like the hacking mini-game since the puzzles are unique and randomized. I know the levels were taken from the original and they didnt change them at all but ... they should have... I die so many times because the levels with spikes under the jumps or dying zones makes me angry ... levels are too hard because of the bad controls. I'm playing on the 360 so I dont know if the controls are as bad on the ps3, but they dont seem to give me the right output for the arm when I press diagonally or ... Dpad sucks so much on the 360 compared to ps3 that makes those levels almost impossible. With so littles lives (3) at start, its too hardcore for me ... I would really enjoy the game if I wouldnt die so easily and stupidly!

Vikings Battle for Asgard :
Good hack and slash (button mashing anyways). I've finished the first area and since everything after is just the same ... i stopped. I had fun during most of the game except the stealthy part at the end of the first area where you need to get the amulet powered on in the village where thousands of soldiers are waiting to kick your butt. Since there are no real stealth mechanic, the player will sufer trying to get to the spot unnoticed ... which is almost impossible ... frustrating since the hud doesnt help nor the third person view. Enjoyable for a while anyways.


thats it for now. next on the list : viva pinata 2, ratchet call for booty, mercs 2, mega man 9, eden, echochrome, ninja gaiden 2 and Dark Sector ( wow too many games to play at home...)

MGS4 ( Spoilers alert )

I am currently playing Metal Gear Solid 4 and it is just amazing ... well i'd say it gets really great at Shadow Moses and following that. Before that mission the game is good but its a normal stealth shooter with a good story that tries to tie every game of the series together.

Anyways, Shadow Moses is the site of a nuclear weapons disposal facility in MGS (ps1). In this iteration of the series, you go back to Shadow Moses to find REX which is a huge Mech that you have to retrieve before the bad guys.

There are so many cool things about that area in the game which makes it the best part of the game so far. You start as Snake trying to get inside the facility as played in the first game including the ps1 graphics, gameplay and even the remapped controls on the controller. This is just amazing and never done before and you get to think back about the experience you had at that time many years ago. Inside the facility you get to experience a combination of the new experience MGS4 offers and all the screams, sounds and map design of the ps1 game... it is just awesome. It also includes conversations with Otacon about the ps1 game and other characters coming in to discuss the past.

After a fight using a Mech and a new mechanic (which will be used later in a different way) to fight a boss, you'll get to fight Mantis again ... which offers some great dialog lines from your friends who try to help you defeat the boss using old tactics from the ps1 era "try to change your controller to port 2... what ? there are no more ports on the ps3!?!?!" They offer some great insights of strategies used on the first game and they make fun of the consoles (ps1 vs ps3) breaking the fourth wall ... so you're playing a game, but they keep talking about console technology and make many reference about the old games which is so funny and just great to hear. Your video input changes to "Hideo2" ... lol

I just loved these parts of the games and I hope the rest is as good as this while trying to tie all story elements together from all previous games of the series. :)

Quick update : Eidos Montreal and ...

So I'm now working at Eidos Montreal on Deus Ex 3 project.

Coming back to Montreal is kinda weird after an incredible year in sunny Los Angeles with all its beaches, entertainment, and stuff to do; I'm now back home with rain every day...

Its great working for a new studio (we're making our first title) since we're developping everything from scratch : from work methods to the game engine... its cool to be part of that :)

One year ago, I heard the studio was opening and would create this game, I would never thought I'd work on it, but now I'm here. Even though I left a really cool project in L.A. and a great team, I'm pretty sure this new game will be kick ass for everyone to enjoy.

I hope Saboteur will come out great! Hope Pandemic will be able to close this huge game and get a good review ;)

I have no internet connection at home so I'll be posting my ideas in a couple of weeks only.

see ya then.

life changes, no time to update

sorry i stopped updating for a couple of weeks (should bring back those ideas soon), but a personal event happened in my life and I had to move back to Montreal.

i had to leave pandemic studios because of that reason and now I will have to start a new adventure with another studio (i need to work obviously) in montreal.

i will update with news as soon as I start my new job and the game ideas will come back as soon as possible.

i'll be looking for appartments, getting furniture and stuff for a couple of days so until then have a nice week ill see you soon.