China Says ‘Pac-Rim’ is American Propaganda

So how deeply can you read into a movie about giant robots fighting giant alien monsters? Well, if you're China's People's Liberation Army and you're talking about Pacific Rim, then you see it as a piece of American propaganda about how the U.S. is the world's savior and defender, and how all other countries are powerless and victimized without American assistance.

Leaving aside the whole fantasy aspect of the film and the fact it was made by Mexican-born filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, several nationalities were well represented in the film, including the Chinese who had, arguably, the coolest robot, the three-armed Crimson Typhoon. Also, the key battle in the film was about the remaining robots defending the city of Hong Kong, a Chinese city, from being destroyed. You're welcome, China.

Still interested in what Chinese officer Zhang Jieli has to say about Pac-Rim? Here's some of his comments from the official paper of the Chinese military, the PLA Daily:

"Hollywood has always been the best American propaganda machine. The decisive battle against the monsters was deliberately set in South China Sea adjacent to Hong Kong ... The intention was to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to maintaining stability in the Asia-Pacific area and saving the mankind ... [The film pushes] American values and global strategies ... Soldiers should sharpen their eyes and enforce a 'firewall' to avoid ideological erosion when watching American movies. More importantly, they should strengthen their combat capability to safeguard national security and interests."

Interestingly, this seems to be the minority opinion as since being released in China a couple of weeks ago, the film was already made more money there than in the United States. At $106.2 million, the total Chinese box office for Pacific Rim accounts for more than a quarter of the film's $397 million worldwide take. So either the Chinese army is over-reacting or Chinese moviegoers are drinking the Kool-aid. Also, it's worth keeping in mind that THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS KAIJUS! But I digress.

Source: Blastr

Reach is mission based...

Yep, that's too obvious a title right?...
Here's an interview with Marcus Lehto on Halo Reach:

Bungie brainstormed 150 mission ideas for Halo Reach

, before wittling them down to around 20 or so, creative director, Marcus Lehto has revealed.

Speaking to CVG, the Bungie man said that some of the missions in Reach the studio's been waiting "ten years" to pull off.

"That's one of the things we paid special attention to when we began," he said. "We didn't just start off with the story and then try to mash missions into it; we came up with like a hundred and fifty mission ideas that we threw up on a wall.

"And we sat down and critiqued them all and we were like: 'we just have to do some of these; we've been waiting ten years!' So we whittled that down to maybe 20 or so, then we boiled those down to the missions that finally made it into the game."

Lehto explained that although there are a set number of objectives in the studio's final Halo, players can approach them in an abundance of ways.

"That's part of the fun! Halo's a sandbox shooter, so you're right - you can tackle it in a hundred different ways and it'll play out differently every time," he said.

"And if you get bored of that, you can turn on skulls, modifiers, different difficulties... play it co-op on the same box. Matchmaking over Live. There are a lot of neat things to do with campaign."

Bungie is of course set to launch its final instalment in the Halo series on September 14. The developer released a brand new Halo Reach trailer earlier this month - check it out and try not to be excited.

Headhunter of Swordbase Full Game Video

Jetpacks for the win, b'arches!

With lest than a week until the Halo Reach Beta release (May 3), the Halo proganda is coming thick and fast from all quarters. My word, Bungie and Microsoft have a pretty damn slick marketing machine!

To that end, today's Halo Reach marketing machine as brought us a full version of the Headhunter game variant being played on the Swordbase map. Check it out!





Yesterday's video was the Invasion game type.

Extra for Experts: Check out HawtyMcBloggy's Gamer guide to preparing for the Beta

Thanks to HBO for the heads up

Comic Con Halo Reach Panel with Bungie staffers

Comic Con 2010 Halo Reach Panel with Bungie staffers - Sketch, Shiska (?), Lars Barken

Have you caught the Halo fever yet?

I know what the ladies like....

Anticipation for Halo Reach is getting feverish, writes Irish writer Joe Griffin.

UNLIKE FILMS, videogame sequels and prequels usually equal and often surpass the originals. From two-fisted classics ( Streetfighter II, Grand Theft Auto III ) to recent home runs ( God of War III

, Modern Warfare II

), game sequels are traditionally blessed with superior graphics, smoother gameplay and better characterisations.

The main reason is probably that the developers themselves are better equipped to exploit the platform. Uncharted II, for example, capitalised further on the PS3's engine. Also, game developers are in touch with their fans like no other media, largely thanks to online gaming.

There was certainly excitement among game journalists at the Halo Reach press event in London. After allowing us to play the game, Bungie community director Brian Jarrard and campaign designer Niles Sankey sat down to chat.

" Halo was one of the first games on a console that let you customise game types and game rules," says Jarrard. "Community and social interaction have always been a big part of Halo , and it's just gotten bigger with each release. It's a large part of what makes Halo what it is today. We love seeing awesome stuff that people have built and that we didn't know were possible. It gives us plenty to work with."

Sankey, however, is aware of the inherent difficulty of sequels.

"People like the familiar fun and experience but they don't like to repeat things too much. The nice thing about Reach is that we feel like we've done a good job of making new experiences and a more fleshed-out story. We're doing stuff that we've never allowed players to do before. So even in the campaign, every mission is unique and the story is definitely more fleshed out and impactful than anything we've done before."

The Halo franchise is Bungee's signature, but Jarrard promises that the series will soon end.

"Every day we work on this project it's a step closer to the last Halo game. But it's also a source of inspiration to go out on a high note and set the bar for what a Halo game should be, to leave something that we can be proud of and our fans will enjoy.

"We don't really spend any energy thinking about what other people are doing," he adds. "Bungie has always been more heads-down and coming up with ideas we think are interesting and listening to our fan community itself."
-
That first sentence of the last paragraph is amusing. It's basically a fuck you Microsoft, we don't care that you're making a Halo bastard! Still, I'm gonna buy that game!

Patrol

First part of more Reach promo: Patrol





Full Halo Glory fast approaches...

Why is he acting so casual?

Gamestop asked if I could promote this Red Vs Blue video. I had nothing better to do so...





Basically the premise is if you order the Reach game from Gamestop, say by stopping in, you get a piece of customizable Armour for your Spartan.

Extended Cut of Deliver Hope

Here's the extended cut of the Deliver Hope promotional video for Reach

:





What I don't understand is how was Kat going to get the bomb up in the ship? She didn't appear to have a jet pack on..... and don't you think she was pretty athletic for a Spartan? (well compared to the way they seem to play in game anyway!).