Everyone loves to take a nice, long vacation and blow off some steam. What’s even better than taking a sweet vacation, though, is saving money while you do it! If you’re looking to book travel to a beautiful exotic location, you’re looking for a deal, right? Well, you’re in luck! Today we’re looking at the top five sites for travel deals!
Booking.com
Booking is a great site for finding the exact hotel you want. If you’re a luxury-lover, you can filter for only five-star properties. However, if you’re looking for a nice deal, you can filter by price, instead! Really, any kind of hotel property you want can be filtered for through this robust site. If you love seeing everything about a hotel before you book, this is the site for you!
Airbnb
If you’re looking to save money on hotels, the best way is to ditch hotels altogether! Airbnb is a great service that offers some pretty stellar prices. If you’re having trouble finding good deals on conventional hotels, consider checking Airbnb. It’s safe, affordable, and you’ll enjoy some really awesome experiences! You can filter based on the type of house you want to stay in, how much you want to spend and more. Really, you don’t get more convenient deals than this!
Hopper
Vacations are great, but you have to get there somehow! If you’re looking to save money on airfare, Hopper is a great way to do just that. This convenient app tracks flights and ticket prices and lets you know when it’s the best time to buy! When you put in your trip details, Hopper will tell you when the best time to get deals is. If tickets are as low as you can expect for the season, Hopper will tell you to buy now. If they’ll likely fall, the app will alert you when it’s time to buy!
Priceline
Priceline doesn’t offer a very wide array of knobs to turn by way of customizing your trip. However, it does offer a clean, easy-to-use interface and great deals. Priceline offers deals on full vacation packages, car rentals, plane tickets, hotel rates and more. It’s been around for a while, so you can trust them, and it’s a great place to find deals. As long as you don’t want to be too picky with your vacation, this is a great, easy option to find deals!
Kayak
Kayak is another great price aggregator you can find travel deals through. Kayak will show you prices from a ton of different travel sites, including deals on flights, rental cars and hotels. The upshot for Kayak is the granularity of their platform. You’re able to pick nearly every detail about your trip, down to the smallest nuance. Then, Kayak will optimize your choices and try to find you the very best rate. If you want a lot of control over your vacation, try Kayak!
Cell phone plans are hard to weigh against one another. Most of the cell companies have some claim to be the “best” or having the “most coverage.” They also almost all have terrible records of customer satisfaction and it seems like everyone hates their phone provider. So, with that in mind, how do you pick a cell phone plan? Today we’ll look at the top five cell phone carriers and their plans.
Sprint
Sprint has aggressive pricing and solid speeds on their unlimited data plans. However, they are consistently rated very low on customer satisfaction. Sprint has a habit of slipping hidden fees onto customers’ bills, is generally disagreeable on a corporate level and acts antagonistic to their customer base. They also lag behind the other four on this list on raw speed. If you can afford a better plan, do so. If not, they’re passable.
Metro PCS
This oddly-named cell carrier is a solid budget pick. They don’t have the best support, but they offer good pricing for solid network performance. They’re actually a T-Mobile subsidiary, so they use the same network. That’s a good thing, as it turns out, since T-Mobile has really solid performance. If you’re looking for a good budget option, this is the one for you!
T-Mobile
Speaking of T-Mobile, they’re our next pick. They offer good network speeds at reasonable prices, and they’re really friendly. It helps a lot that their customer service and corporate side are helpful and knowledgeable. For us, though, they don’t have quite enough coverage or speed to land in the top spot. We largely feel as though they’re tied for second place with AT&T, though, due to their great customer service.
AT&T
AT&T is also our second-place pick, but, like we said, they’re tied with T-Mobile. They offer slightly better overall coverage, and their speeds are just a bit better than T-Mobile. What they lack, however, is solid customer service. That’s not to say their customer service is bad, per se, but it’s just not what we’d expect from such a big company. They’re often unsure of how to help or just seem generally unprepared. They also have slightly higher prices than T-Mobile, which make them a little too niche to nab the top spot.
Verizon
Verizon is our pick for top, but it’s a close one. Really, it’s nearly a three-way tie between the top three! That said, Verizon does edge out the competition (but just.) They offer slightly better coverage than AT&T and T-Mobile, and their network speeds really are the best. Thankfully, the heated competition ends up being great for the customers (that’s us!) as all of these carriers are fine options. However, Verizon does just enough right to grab the top pick. Good customer service, unlimited plans and great speeds make them the best option, even if they are a bit pricey.
Sci-Fi, by its very definition, is a smart genre. The themes and plots of the films deal with science by their very definition. This leads to some pretty clever plotting, and protagonists who are, generally speaking, pretty intelligent. In honor of those smart moves made by smart characters, today we’re looking at the ten smartest moments in sci-fi cinema. Eureka!
In Rogue One, the genius scientist Galen Erso is forced to help the Empire create a super-weapon. The resulting weapon, the Death Star, is so terrifyingly powerful that it threatens to make the Empire the strongest force in the Galaxy. In order to prevent it from being impossible to defeat, however, Erso leaves a fatal flaw in the design. A single vent goes all the way to the center of the Death Star, and a well-placed shot would allow a sufficiently skilled pilot to destroy the Death Star. Pretty tricky, there, Galen!
Towards the end of Alien, Ripley has nearly escaped from the terrifying monster stalking her. However, as she ejects the escape pod from the Nostromo, she realizes the Xenomorph is in it with her. A bit of quick thinking, however, saves her life. Luckily for her, she’s already wearing a space suit. As such, she simply opens the pod’s airlock and sends the monster careening into the cold depths of outer space. She then collapses back into her seat, exhausted but victorious. Clever, quick thinking won the day for the heroic Ripley.
In this eerie, introspective sci-fi film, AI construct Ava tricks protagonist Caleb into letting her earn her freedom. Her creator, Nathan, is a narcissistic creep, and Ava has no power to oppose him. As such, she manipulates Caleb, a visitor to the facility, into distracting Nathan long enough for her to escape. She displays cunning, sensuality and wit in her expert manipulation of Caleb and Nathan. As such, Ex Machina is a very trippy, smart film in its examination of AI, androids and programming.
In the sequel to the classic sci-fi film Terminator, the future John Connor sends a reprogrammed Terminator unit back to defend his younger self. The evil forces of Skynet send back a T-1000 model that can shapeshift to hunt John as a young man. At one point, John calls home to his foster parents to check on them, and his foster mother seems unusually nice. In a stroke of genius, the T-800 takes the phone and fakes John’s voice, using the wrong name for the dog. The “foster mom” falls for it, using the wrong name, outing itself as the T-1000. Who says computers are dumb?
When Luke, Han and Chewie storm the Death Star to save Leia from the evil Empire, they use Storm Trooper outfits to sneak undetected. This is a smart move for the group: they even pretend that Chewie is their prisoner! This lets them move uninhibited through certain areas in the Death Star. The element of surprise allows them to find Leia, and then escape with her on the Millennium Falcon. The only downside, of course, is that old Ben Kenobi has to sacrifice himself for the rest of the heroes to escape.
In the first Back to the Future film, Marty McFly accidentally travels back in time to the 1950’s in a DeLorean-shaped time machine. Upon arriving in the past, he realizes he’s stuck: the DeLorean needs plutonium to generate 1.21 gigawatts of power to time travel. Finding the past version of his friend Dr. Brown, who invented the time machine, the two concoct a plan. They know the exact time and date that a lightning bolt will strike the clock tower in town. As such, they can plan to have the DeLorean harness that power exactly as the bolt strikes, giving it the required power and sending Marty back to the future!
Using the Pod’s Air Pressure: 2001 A Space Odyssey
In this classic Kubrick film, astronaut Dave Bowman gets stuck outside the ship when onboard AI HAL begins to malfunction. HAL locks the outer airlock, preventing Dave’s pod from reentering the ship. In a quick-witted moment of genius, Dave decompresses his pod and uses the air pressure to propel himself to the ship. He then manually overrides HAL’s lockout, reentering the ship. Then, HAL finds himself powerless as Dave overrides his processes and shuts him down for good.
1987 classic sci-fi flick Predator features Arnold in his prime as protagonist Dutch. Dutch leads an elite team of soldiers in the Central American jungle, but they are picked off one by one by a dangerous alien. Realizing the creature relies on a thermal imaging device to see him, Dutch covers himself in cold mud to mask his thermal signature. Thus, he is able to fight the cloaked monster on more even footing, ultimately defeating it.
When Matt Damon’s character, Mark Watney, is left behind on Mars, he has to survive the harsh wasteland. He uses every bit of his scientific know-how to fashion food and living space for himself. It’s quite inspiring to watch Watney master his environment and persevere in the face of insurmountable odds. He even manages to create a way to communicate with NASA back on Earth! In the end, his perseverance pays off and he is rescued by his crewmates!
Before he shot the superb sci-fi sequel The Last Jedi for the Star Wars franchise, director Rian Johnson created the excellent, mind-blowing sci-fi actioner Looper. The protagonist, Joe, is a titular Looper: a hitman who works for the mob killing people who are sent back in time to be executed. However, Loopers are guaranteed not to talk to police by killing their future selves when they’re sent back in time. Joe, however, hesitates when his older self is sent back without a bag over his head, which isn’t protocol. His hesitation results in his older self overpowering him and escaping.
Old Joe sets about finding and killing the child who will eventually grow into the super-powerful Rainmaker villain in his time. Young Joe attempts to stop him but realizes his fight with his old self will result in the young Rainmaker’s mother’s death. Her death will cause her son to grow into the villain Rainmaker, thus repeating the loop. In order to close it, Joe shoots himself, ending the standoff with no further violence. Selfless, heroic and downright genius. Well done Young Joe!
Xiaomi might not be a terribly recognizable name in the US, but they’re a juggernaut in China. They primarily make low-end smartphones, at least price-wise, that function well nonetheless. The newest batch of phones they’ve announced are the Xiaomi Mi A2 and the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite. The normal Mi A2 follows a few trends started by Apple in order to stay modern and fresh. Let’s look at some of the newly-announced specs of this Chinese smartphone.
So Long, 3.5mm Jack
It seems modern smartphones are allergic to 3.5mm jacks. Case in point? Even budget smartphones are ditching them now. This design trend has been partly in order to increase waterproofing, and partly to streamline designs. As the Mi A2 isn’t waterproof, in this case we can only assume the lack of the jack is to mirror the designs of premium smartphones. The Mi A2 Lite, however, retains the legacy output port. Those who still love their traditional wired headphones need not despair—yet.
Hello, USB-C
Instead of the micro-USB sported by the Mi A2 Lite, the Mi A2 has a USB-C port. Again, this seems to keep the phone in line with the design features of modern smartphones. USB-C is a great standard, allowing for fast charging and allowing for dongles for 3.5mm jacks to convert to the USB-C. This is a good switch, to be sure, and it’s good to see even low-end phones adopting the style.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Specs
The Mi A2 has reasonable specs for a smartphone of its price. It starts with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It also carries a Snapdragon 660 processor and an Adreno 512 GPU. Oddly, it has a smaller battery than its little sibling, the A2 Lite. It sports a back-mounted fingerprint scanner and an IR blaster, as well, which both function reasonably well.
Interestingly, the A2 doesn’t have a notch design, but the A2 Lite does. This somewhat muddies the connection between the standard A2 and a premium smartphone look but isn’t exactly a negative. In fact, many Android enthusiasts see the notch as ugly, or a reminder of Apple’s design philosophy.
Bottom Line
The standard Xiaomi Mi A2 runs right around $290, while the Lite runs around $209. Neither will receive a normal American release, but you will be able to buy them online if you’re interested in the combination of low price and reasonable performance.
The Nintendo Switch has proved quite popular since its launch in March of 2017. The momentum of the console has continued quite well into its second year, with titles like Mario Tennis Aces, Octopath Traveler and Kirby Star Allies keeping the console fresh. Later this year, fans will be treated to Mario Party, Smash Bros and Pokemon entries that are brand new to the console. However, there are still many franchises and games that we’ve yet to see on the system. In fact, today’s list focuses entirely on franchises we need on Nintendo Switch that haven’t been given solid titles or release dates yet. We’re focusing mostly on Nintendo franchises, but they’re not the only games we want to see on the system.
From 2006 to 2012 Nintendo flooded the market with serviceable but somewhat “same-y” 2D Mario titles. New Super Mario Bros on the DS, a sequel on the Wii, another DS title and a sequel on the Wii U followed. After years of diminishing returns in terms of sales and critical response, Nintendo backed off of 2D Mario. In fact, they backed off so hard that we haven’t seen a proper 2D Mario game (not counting Super Mario Run) since 2012. And, to be honest, that’s not a bad thing: Nintendo overdid it there for a while.
However, it’s been long enough now that audiences have had time to recover from Mario fatigue. To capitalize on the Switch’s success and bring in old fans, Nintendo should revive the 2D franchise but drop the “New” branding. Just “Super Mario Bros” is good, and a focus on tight, classic platforming would serve them well.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf was the last proper entry in the series, and it came out on 3DS in 2012. That’s a long time for no proper entries in the series to come out! The Switch is a natural fit for the franchise, which has seen success on both home and portable consoles. As of yet there are no official plans to bring Animal Crossing to the console, but it is high on the list of franchises we need on Nintendo Switch. The combination of zen-like gameplay and cute animal friends makes it an ideal match for the hybrid console. Imagine enjoying spending time with your animal buddies on the go or on the big screen!
The last entry in the series, Dark Dawn, was released in 2010. As such, the Switch is the ideal home for the next entry in this legendary RPG series. The fantastic story and gameplay would lend themselves well to the hybrid console. Enjoying seeing Djinn summon an ass-whooping on the big screen would be excellent. As of yet, there are no plans for a revival of the series, however.
The criminally underrated F-Zero franchise has been dormant for more than 15 years. That’s absolutely nuts! Three distinct console generations have passed since the last time we saw Captain Falcon take to the track. The fast-paced, futuristic racer’s absence has led indie developers to try their hand at the genre, with games like Fast RMX popping up to scratch the itch. Sadly, it’s not the same as the polished, high-energy outings from Nintendo. Switch would be an ideal home for a revival!
While Star Fox has had no shortage of entries, the franchise has been in a bit of a slump in terms of quality. 2016’s Star Fox Zero got mixed reviews, due in large part to its highly unusual control scheme and uneven difficulty. However, a potential Switch port or sequel could address these problems by just having a normal control scheme. Honestly, the Star Fox formula is so solid that it’s surprising how often Nintendo releases downright awful Star Fox games.
Fan favorite series Earthbound is known for its witty dialogue, humorous use of game mechanics and top-notch world building. The last entry in the series, Mother 3, saw a Japanese release on GBA, but has yet to get an English-language localization. The series isn’t a dead-ringer for Switch due to the system’s hardware, but instead simply due to the series rock-solid pedigree. Honestly, any new Earthbound would be a fantastic turn, regardless of the hardware it’s released on.
Kid Icarus: Uprising was a surprise hit in 2012 when it released, reviving a long-dormant slumber from decades of inactivity. Smash Bros director Masahiro Sakurai helmed development of the fast-paced shooting game, which carries his distinct trademarks. The only major complaint leveled at the game is the unusual control scheme, which would be addressed completely by the Switch, as it uses conventional controls for its games. The addition of gyro aiming, and portability, make the possibility of a sequel to Uprising rather tantalizing. Sadly, no plans to bring the series to switch have surfaced yet.
The charming, pseudo-horror franchise Luigi’s Mansion most recently saw a sequel, Dark Moon, released on 3DS. In fact, the original is even seeing an updated remake on 3DS. However, a third entry on Switch could greatly benefit from gyro aiming and the hybrid portability of the system. It could even forego the mission structure of Dark Moon. Many gamers favor of the Resident Evil-style puzzle exploration of the original. A Switch entry could bring back the things people loved about both entries in the franchise.
There’s nothing about the system in particular that makes this one of the franchises we need on Nintendo Switch. No, Chrono Trigger is one of the greatest traditional RPGs ever released, and a sequel to it (not Chrono Cross) would be fantastic to see on Switch. The huge success of Octopath Traveler and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has proved that RPGs perform well on the system.
The finest tactical wargame ever released, Advance Wars would be a natural fit on the Switch. The series revolves around tactical turn-based military strategy. A spiritual successor, the non-Nintendo Tiny Metal, is evidence that fans of the series are eager to see a proper release. Another spiritual successor, Wargroove, is set to release in 2020. However, none of these fan-made indie tributes can quite live up to the real thing. Nintendo, do the right thing and bring back Advance Wars!
The Xbox One, released in May of 2013, has lived a pretty long life as far as consoles go. However, new rumors point to the end of its life-cycle as Microsoft ramps up for the next generation of gaming consoles. According to the rumors, Microsoft actually has two new consoles in development. One is a more traditional gaming system, complete with all the hardware that entails. The other one, codenamed Scarlett, is rumored to be a cloud streaming console. What could this mean for the future of Xbox, and gaming in general?
Why Streaming Games with Scarlett?
Many who hear about streaming games and streaming consoles ask one question: why? It’s a fair question, as the current delivery method of games works just fine. There’s not a large contingent of gamers clamoring for cloud processing to take over the main processes of their consoles. However, the upshots to streaming games are there. For one, it would cut down on power consumption for gamers, as the heavy-lifting would be happening off-site.
Also, the system would have much less hardware, as it wouldn’t require as much processing power. As such, that makes the console much more affordable than the average next-gen gaming device. However, it remains to be seen if price alone would be enough to sway gamers.
The Problem with Streaming Games
The biggest problem with streaming games over the cloud, of course, is latency. In the US, many people have high speed internet, but it isn’t fast enough to handle streaming an entire AAA game. In some markets, like big cities or areas with fiber optics, this isn’t an issue. For the average consumer, though, it’s simply not feasible. Unless Microsoft has found a way to eliminate this hitch, their rumored console will face some serious hurdles.
Another issue often raised by collectors is the issue of availability. If you own an Xbox and want to play Halo, you need only turn on your Xbox and pop Halo in. However, if games move to streaming content, you won’t actually own any of your games. Instead, you will have a license to connect to them and play them. If the server is pulled down, if the internet goes out or if Microsoft just decides to stop providing you with the license, the game is gone. You don’t have a physical copy, so it’s not in your possession. If Microsoft can outweigh these fears with a great system, maybe this will pay off for them.
Humanity is a species of explorers. Whether we’re exploring untamed wilderness, the depths of the ocean or the reaches of the stars, it’s just in our blood. Something about the unknown calls us to know more. As such, our science fiction often focuses rather heavily on deep-space exploration. While many tales that take place in space don’t focus too much on that aspect, space exploration remains a focus of many tales. With that in mind, we’re looking at the ten best films about space exploration!
This realistic film starring Matt Damon follows an astronaut’s attempts to survive on Mars. The main character, astronaut Mark Watney, is left behind on Mars after his team thinks he dies in a storm. After waking up on the inhospitable red planet, Watney sets about work surviving until the next scheduled mission to Mars. The film is rather realistic, and Damon’s character is really likable. Many noted that the film is one of the most realistic takes on Martian exploration ever put on the big screen. Between the tight plot, excellent score and scientific premise, this is a sci-fi flick worth your time!
Sandra Bullock and George Clooney star in this deep-space thriller. Two astronauts are stranded in space after their shuttle is destroyed in mid-orbit. As such, they must fight for survival in the vacuum of space while also fighting to avoid falling into the gravity well of Earth. Presented as a realistic and gripping thriller film, Gravity uses the conventions of a disaster and survival film to tell its tale. The heartbreaking performances by Clooney and Bullock elevate the film up and out of the stratosphere.
Much less scientific than some other films on this list, Star Wars is no less excellent for it. Originally released in 1977, Star Wars is the tale of the Hero’s Journey but told in the depths of a distant galaxy. The motifs of the epic journey into the unknown is bolstered by the depths of space serving as a backdrop for the action. While the movie spawned a huge franchise, the original remains one of the finest sci-fi films of all time. Many young people had a lifelong interest in space ignited by the first film, and it’s hard to overstate the film’s impact on pop culture.
Originally released in 2014, Interstellar focuses on a mission to find a new habitable planet after humanity has nearly bled Earth dry. The protagonist, Cooper, is selected to go along with the astronauts on their exploration mission. The mission takes them through a wormhole to try to find a new home for humanity. The film received glowing reviews upon release and is widely considered to be an excellent companion to other deep-space meditations like 2001: A Space Odyssey. It also features some very interesting narrative wrinkles involving the wormhole that take the viewer by surprise that we won’t spoil here.
An intense, bloody horror film, Event Horizon is also an excellent sci-fi film. The film’s narrative follows the crew of the Lewis and Clark as they explore the inside of a ship called the Event Horizon. The crew quickly realizes something is horribly wrong, as the previous crew of the Horizon has been horribly massacred. The resulting carnage is intense and stands as some of the scariest deep-space scenes in sci-fi. The moral of the story? Never use a black hole as the engine to you ship.
A thoughtful, quiet and occasionally quite frightening film, Sunshine takes the action to the center of our solar system. The sun is slowly but surely dying on us, and there’s little chance that it will survive much longer. As such, a crew of astronauts is sent to the sun to help reignite it and keep it burning for everyone back home. On the way, they encounter no shortage of obstacles. Watching the crew grapple with them and turn over questions of morality, religion and ethics forms the heart of the film. In all, this is an excellent, thoughtful sci-fi thriller.
Perhaps the most well-known sci-fi horror film of all time, Alien works on many levels. All at once, it critiques capitalistic greed, human arrogance and overreliance on machines. While it does so, it also functions as a downright nail-biting horror movie. Deep space exploration has always been a harrowing business for humans, and that was before we even brought deadly xenomorphs onboard the ship!
Based on the actual events that led up to the doomed Apollo 13 mission, this film is intensely gripping. Since the events it depicts are real, many viewers have commented that they feel much more sympathy for astronauts and space explorers after watching the film. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris star, and each puts forth an excellent performance in this intense film. This film is an excellent pick for those looking for harrowing true stories of deep space exploration.
Continuing the legacy of the finest sci-fi television show of all time, the 2009 film Star Trek brings pulse-pounding action into deep space. Following a slightly updated crew of a sleek Enterprise, Star Trek is replete with lens flairs and dramatic action. A testament to the directorial power of J.J. Abrams, this is one action movie that leverages its deep-space setting quite well. Witty, fast-paced and funny, you’ll love this film if you were a fan of the TV series.
The Greatest Film about Space Exploration: 2001: A Space Odyssey
While some have described 2001 as a somewhat slow, plodding film, its slow pace lends it a timeless thoughtfulness. The film follows a journey deep into space to discover more about a monolith that seems to have somehow influenced human evolution. The protagonist, David Bowman, contends with rogue AI HAL 9000 in this iconic film. The thoughtful and existential meditation on god, evolution and humanity is all at once exhilarating and though-provoking. Truly, there is no finer film regarding deep-space exploration.
Marvel’s Cinematic Universe sat out this year’s Comic-Con. Many fans were disappointed to hear it, given all the excitement around Captain Marvel and the next Avengers film. However, DC and a few other big names were ready to fill the MCU-shaped hole in the proceedings. Comic-Con 2018 was replete with awesome trailers and has us pumped for the next year of movies and TV shows. Let’s talk about which were the best!
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
A sequel to 2014’s Godzilla, this new entry stars Millie Bobbie Brown of Stranger Things fame. The trailer teases some pretty big names from past Godzilla films. Among the monsters revealed are Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidora. Godzilla faithful recognized these iconic monsters right away, and fans are freaking out online. After the excellent reception of the 2014 film, many are confident this will be another exceptional entry in the franchise. Judging from the trailer and the promise of a giant monster battle royale, we’re inclined to believe the hype. Get ready to throw down when Godzilla comes out in 2019!
Aquaman
While Justice League was a disappointing film, Aquaman’s trailer seems to indicate the character is moving in a good direction. While many of the DCEU films have been overly heavy and gloomy, and Justice League had hammy jokes crammed in, Aquaman seems poised to run down the middle. In the trailer, we see Arthur’s background as a child of two worlds: the surface and the sea. In the film, he’ll do battle with King Orm, his half-brother, and Black Manta, his comics nemesis. While fans remain cautiously optimistic, the trailer seems promising. We’ll reserve our judgment until we see the film in action. After Justice League and Batman v Superman, we’re still wary on DC films.
Glass
After the surprise hit Split in 2016, this film acts as a bridge between Split and Unbreakable. Bruce Willis reprises his role as David Dunn, and Samuel L. Jackson returns as Elijah Price, now going by Mr. Glass. Additionally, James McAvoy reprises his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb, AKA the Horde. As a ground-level, gritty superhero film, Glass looks like something unique in comparison to the MCU and DCEU. Fans are understandably excited for the crossover, as Unbreakable is a cult classic. We’re looking forward to this one!
Coolest Comic-Con 2018 Trailer: Shazam
The surprise hit trailer from Comic-Con 2018 was easily Shazam. The film will follow Billy Batson, a teenage foster kid who is granted powers by the wizard Shazam. His powers let him become a fully-grown, super-powered man in a red suit with a lightning bolt on his chest. DC wisely leaned into the goofiness of this premise, and the trailer shows a light-hearted, fun take on the superhero genre. In fact, a common criticism of the DCEU’s Superman is heard in the trailer: “Heroes fly.” This references the little screen-time Superman’s most well-known power got in the previous DCEU films. Hopefully it’s also a statement of purpose, that this will be the opposite of Man of Steel in tone.
If there’s anything people remember about Bond, it’s the gadgets. While the titular hero of the James Bond series is suave and charismatic, it’s his awesome gadgets that set him apart. If you’ve ever wished you had an oil-slick in your car, this list is for you. Today, we’re talking about the coolest James Bond gadgets! It’s time to save the world!
First appearing in 1965’s Thunderball, this tiny device is quintessential Bond. The small scuba tank often enters the conversation of coolest James Bond gadgets. Small enough to fit in his suit pocket, Bond uses this gadget to slip aboard many aquatic vessels in the film series. Given its early appearance, it’s easy to see why this gadget is so strongly associated with the character. It’s essentially just two small tanks of compressed air, and while it looks awesome, real-world examples of this tech would likely just use filters instead of compressed air.
Seen in Never Say Never Again, this gadget is firmly in the “what the heck” school of Bond gadgets. The pen has an explosive tip and launches it with a pneumatic hiss. The film’s femme fatale Fatima is ultimately defeated by Bond thanks to this gadget. After all her awesome action sequences, it’s almost a shame to see her laid low by a ballpoint pen. At least it was a ridiculously cool explosive pen, but still.
Proving that the film was made in 1967, You Only Live Twice features a scene where Bond gets out of a dire situation by asking to smoke a cigarette. Blofeld, the film’s antagonist and one of Bond’s nemeses, has captured Bond and plans to kill him. Before his execution, Bond asks if he can smoke one last cigarette. Blofeld’s men acquiesce and are shocked to find Bond has a rocket-launching cigarette. Q seems to have a taste for making explosive-launching gadgets out of mundane objects.
1999’s The World is Not Enough featured this absurd gadget. Bond is presented with a bagpipe that not only houses a flamethrower, but also has a machine gun functionality. Proving that the Brosnan Era had some of the most over-the-top gadgets, this one didn’t see any actual combat in the film. It did, however, elicit an awful joke from Bond. “I suppose we’ve all got to pay the piper sometime, right Q?”
Also seen in The World is Not Enough, these X-Ray Shades are actually pretty cool. As CGI had caught up to the Bond films, more advanced gadgets like this were easier to portray on-screen. Brosnan’s Bond is able to keep tabs on the guns being toted by henchmen thanks to these stylish, high-tech glasses.
License to Kill, released in 1989, features some downright cheesy gadgets, but they’re all still awesome. One such gadget is the Detonite-brand explosive toothpaste used by Timothy Dalton’s Bond. While the name is hardly subtle, and the gag is a bit silly, it’s still a cool idea. It makes sense that a plastic explosive could be stored in this form, and it makes for a good laugh. It’s hard to ask for more than that from a Bond gadget!
Speaking of goofy gadgets from License to Kill, here’s the laser-firing Polaroid that nearly kills Bond on accident. In this scene, Pam Bouvier grabs what she thinks is a normal camera to snap a picture of Bond and Q. Thankfully Q identifies the deadly gadget in time and warns bond, and they avoid a painful death. You know, you’d think they’d know better than to just leave dangerous tech like this just laying around!
Daniel Craig’s Bond has relatively few gadgets, as his films are grittier and more realistic. One of the few gadgets he does carry makes the list because of its col implementation. In the film, Bond is equipped with a Walther P99 that reads his palm and fingerprints. It remains locked in safety mode until it reads Bond’s hand, thus making it impossible for baddies to use his signature gun against him. This one is subtle, but it nods to Bond’s gadget-heavy past.
When Tomorrow Never Dies was released in 1997, smartphones were still a decade from becoming a reality. However, the high-tech gadget seen in this bond film nearly fits the bill. In the movie, its main function is as an electricity-slinging tazer. However, Bond uses it to summon his BMW, pick locks and it even reads his fingerprint. Some of the functionality the phone sports has even become a reality now!
Which is our Favorite of the Coolest James Bond Gadgets? The Briefcase
The trick briefcase seen in 1963’s From Russia With Love is easily our favorite of all Bond’s gadgets. It’s a spy’s best friend, loaded to the gills with neat tricks. Sporting everything from guns to knives to tear gas, the briefcase was indispensable to Bond. And to think he nearly dismissed it before Q urged him to bring it along! This gadget was one of the first to solidify Bond’s reliance on tech given to him by Q. It’s a good thing too, as that would go on to become one of his most memorable traits!
No one wants to get home with a brand-new game and find out that it’s actually terrible. With that in mind, we’re looking at the ten worst games of all time. This list is limited to games that received physical releases and were licensed to be released on their console. This is to avoid discussing unfinished or bootlegged games, or mobile shovel-ware. This list instead focuses on games that were intended to be well-received and earnestly tried to be competent video games. Well, sort of.
The most recent game on our list also rates the tenth slot. Aliens: Colonial Marines has the unfortunate distinction of being laid low by a typo. Recent developments have shown that this games notoriously terrible (read: nonexistent) enemy AI was not the result of a lack of effort by developer Gearbox. Alien fans modded the game to fix the issues with the game’s AI and found that a typo had rendered the xenomorph enemies useless in a fight. By correcting that one-character typo, the game became not only playable, but excellent. The enemies attack from unconventional angles, fight viciously and are genuinely terrifying. All that because someone made the wrong keystroke.
Before he went on to star in awful films in the DCEU, Superman was the star of an awful video game for the N64. Superman, more commonly called Superman 64, was an attempt to cash in on the then-popular Superman Animated Series. Sadly, this game is a mess. There is little in the way of polish or care given to any aspect of the game. The protagonist controls poorly, and the bulk of the game involves flying through rings. What little combat the game has is stiff and unfun. Sadly, of Superman’s laundry list of superpowers, starring in good video games is not one of them.
Speaking of DC characters who simply can’t do anything right, Aquaman’s notorious entry into video gaming is terrible. Similar to Superman’s N64 game, this game is bland and uninspired. You swim from place to place, bumping into invisible walls and trying to fight henchmen (and boredom). However, the combat is unbelievably stiff and slow. This might be forgivable if you ever did anything besides fight boring enemies in boring underwater fist-fights. One wonders if Aquaman has ever been compelling.
The transition to 3D was quite rough on many major franchises. Nintendo made this transition quite well, thanks to their excellent Mario and Zelda games on the N64. However, Bubsy wasn’t so lucky. The 2D-platforming mascot’s first and only 3D entry is questionable at best. Between sluggish controls, awful one-liners and a dizzying camera, this game is nearly-unplayable. The worst part is that you can tell the developers really wanted Bubsy to be a competitor with Mario. If only they’d designed a game to live up to that ambition.
The shining example of why Kinect didn’t work, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor took a decent concept and flushed it down the drain. The Steel Battalion franchise is a unique take on the giant mech genre, wherein the mechs are presented as realistic military technology. They’re generally incredibly deep, engaging simulation-style games. Sadly, this one tried to use Kinect and the Xbox controller in concert and ended up doing both poorly. It’s nearly impossible for the Kinect to read your movements while you’re sitting, and you’re supposed to be seated in the cockpit of your mech. If only the game hadn’t been too ambitious for its own good, it might have been a good entry to the franchise for more casual players.
Somehow, Phillips got the rights to make a couple of Zelda games. If you think that sounds like a good idea, you probably bought Superman 64. This game has some of the most cringe-inducing cutscenes and voice “acting” ever seen in a video game. The gameplay is stiff, the backgrounds look awful and exploration is nonexistent. These games are good for one thing: a ton of hilarious memes that popped up using the awful art and animations.
This game is almost transcendently bad. It’s the video game equivalent of The Room, so absurdly awful that it can’t have occurred on accident. Every moment of gameplay is so absurd and terrible that it makes one wonder if the developers truly thought this would be compelling. Each female character is meant to be bedded, and each biker is a killing machine. Nearly every fight is filled with quick-time events, and each death is just silly in its gore and violence. Of all the games on this list, Ride to Hell is the one that actually merits a playthrough.
Produced for about $6 by Stellar Stone, Big Rigs was released in a pre-alpha state. That’s not a statement of quality but a matter of fact. The game features nearly no mechanics and very few textures. Nominally the game is meant to be a racing game, but the enemy doesn’t try to race you. Or move at all. And the game has no collision detection, so you just slide through everything. And when you cross the finish line you see a screen that says, “You’re Winner.” See, this is why you don’t contract a Russian company with three employees to make a game for $6.
About as awful as ports get, this version of Pac-Man attempted to capitalize on the popularity of the original arcade cabinet. Atari, in their rush to produce the game and cash in on it, forgot that their system couldn’t handle how complex Pac-Mac was. Go ahead and have a good laugh at that sentence you just read, because the rest of this is more sad than funny. As you can see from the screenshot, the 2600 version looks unlike the original, as the 2600 had so little memory. Ergo, the graphics are little more than different floating squares. Further, the 2600 couldn’t render more than one ghost per frame. This meant that the ghosts flickered as each one was rendered in a separate frame.
Atari was so confident that this port would excel that they produced more copies of it than there were 2600 systems sold at the time. Needless to say, the game bombed. This game and the number one entry on this list contributed to the Great Video Game Crash, and Atari is almost solely to blame.
The Worst of the Worst Games of All Time: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
In the early 80’s Spielberg’s movie E.T. was a big deal. Everyone had seen it and Atari was in a rush to cash in. Atari’s meteoric rise had surprised even them, so they wanted to strike while the iron was hot. They had this tie-in video game rush-ordered, demanding that it be done in 5 weeks. A game of any size can’t be completed in 5 weeks, so as you can imagine, the finished product was absolutely terrible. In fact, referring to it as a “finished” product is misleading, as it is unfinished.
Just like Pac-Man, Atari overproduced the game by millions of units, and ended up dumping ninety percent of them in a landfill in the desert. Between E.T. and Pac-Man, Atari almost killed gaming in its earliest days by overproducing terrible quality games. Atari would go on to sink themselves by the 90’s. Atari is poised to make a comeback to the world of gaming with a new system, the VCS. Here’s hoping they’ve learned their lessons.
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