Live From Tokyo: The Video Blog

Tokyo Diary Ni: Far East Observations

06.19.09 Let me start off by saying the tall sweaty guy who works at Hotel Parklane’s front desk is awesome for helping me get to the soccer game tomorrow, and for his awesomeness he was rewarded with the delicious looking Watermelon beverage I had just purchased at Y’s Mart.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s some random observations I came across while exploring Shibuya and Akihabara today:

Tokyo Diary Ichi: Getting to Edogawa

06.18.09 It’s just passed midnight here in Tokyo, which means I’ve survived the first night of my Far East adventure.

I left my house Wednesday morning at 6:30a.m, flew out of Pearson at approximately 8:30a.m. and landed in Tokyo at about 5:45p.m. on Thursday. After a total of 17 hours spent flying 38,000 feet in the air, two time zone changes, a 3 hour layover in Vancouver and a 1 hour bus ride from Narita to Kasai, I’ve never been so happy to arrive anywhere. I wish I could say the flights were hell but to be honest the worst part of either flight was spilling Coke Zero all over myself on the way to Japan. I got some good rest, watched The Iron Giant and got the greatest cross-country view of Canada possible.

MyBrute smashes into the AppStore for $4.99

I love the online game because it’s something I can get into without having it take up a lot of time, but the price of the iPhone version is way too steep for me to take the plunge. I was excited about getting BulkyPix’s MyBrute on my touch but I was expecting the price to be more in line with the $0.99-2.99 price range. There’s a lot of quality games in the AppStore to be had for MyBrute’s price, most of which offer much more bang for your buck. MyBrute is a great little MMO for beginners, but you’re better off sticking with the more limited [albeit free] online version until the price drops.

iPhone’s Siberian Strike on sale now for a buck

And it’s awesome. If you’re a fan of overhead warplane shooters like 1942 or Raptor: COS, then you should have picked up this game already. With FMV sequences, 3D graphics, full voice-overs and multiplayer, this iPhone/touch arcade title is a huge steal at 99 cents, especially since it debuted at $5.99 only a few weeks ago. There’s no expiry date for the sale on the game’s iTunes page, but it is a limited offer so you should hop to it fairly quick.

App Shopper: Siberian Strike (Games).

Sights from the Jays vs. the Yankees

It’s been almost ten years since I’d been to a Jays game, so with the birds atop the standings and tearing things up in the AL East, I decided to check out a game against the Yanks with some friends. It was an awesome time and if the Jays continue to kick ass I just might be back at the Rogers Centre before 2019.

Picasa Web Albums: Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees.

Marvel casts it’s next Avenger

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth has won the title role of Marvel’s Thor, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily. Hemsworth was most recently seen as the father of Captain Kirk in the awesome reboot of the Star Trek franchise. Filming will begin in January, with a release date of June 17, 2011 set for the viking tale. With Hemsworth in the role of Thor it’s likely he’ll play the character in any subsequent Avengers flicks alongside Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and Ed Norton’s Hulk.

I’m not sure how the filmmakers are going to approach the concept of Thor on the big screen as it could be either epic or incredibly cheesy. I’m hoping they go for a look that’s ripped straight from the reels of Zack Snyder’s 300, with Thor being a total badass in the spirit of Gerard Butler’s Leonidas.

Resident Evil now infecting iPhones

Capcom has released Resident Evil Degeneration to the iTunes AppStore for the non-horrific price of $6.99. After a quick 20 minute play through of the games first chapter I can happily report that the Resident Evil franchise actually works on Apple’s platform. This third-person shooter based on the CG flick of the same name takes most of it’s cues from Resident Evil 4, which isn’t a bad idea considering how many accolades that title recieved. Here’s hoping a few more titles from the series take up residency. Sorry, I just had to! More pictures posted after the break.

MyBrute bringing portable beatdowns to the iPhone

According to iPhone gaming site iPhoneOtaku.com, the team at Bulkypix might be porting over their super-addictive online RPG MyBrute. It was only recently that I stepped into the arena but I think I might have already been bitten by the MyBrute bug. If the iPhone/touch version is able to recreate this experience on the go I’ll be grabbing this on launch day. In the meantime, show me what you got!

Source:  Online fighter MyBrute coming to the iPhone.

Assassin’s Creed II has it’s main character

Maybe. This image was leaked onto the Ubisoft forums before being taken down, but it definitely looks like this guy could be replacing Altair’s job. According to ScrewAttack, the badass pictured above is named Ezio Auditore de Firenze, and throughout the course of the game he’ll be receiving help from none other than Da Vinci himself. In case you were wondering, yes, he can swim and yes, he is a descendent of the perpetually imprisoned Desmond.

I’m excited to see what Ubisoft Montreal does with this sequel to the fun yet limited Assassin’s Creed. The original laid some great groundwork but stumbled wen trying to flesh out some actual gameplay. I can’t wait to hear beggars ask me for money and demean me in Italian!