sitting spare like a book on a shelf

Valve held a press conference for Half-Life 2: Episode 2 earlier in the week, and made two very surprising announcements. The first was the announcement of a new single-player game to be bundled with Episode 2, Portal. There wasn't a whole lot of explanation as to what the game was, but the basic idea is that you have a portal gun that you use to create and entrance to the portal in one location, and an exit to the portal in another. So, if you find yourself staring at a big canyon that you cannot cross, simply create an entrance on your side of the ravine, and create and exit on the other. The video they showed looked pretty amazing. Valve showed all kinds of different scenarios to demonstrate different ways to use the portal gun. Have a sentry gun blocking your way? Fire a portal under a heavy box, put the exit over the gun, and watch the box fall through the portal and knock it over. The video didn't really explain what you do in the game, but judging from what I saw, it looks like the game is a big obstacle course full of puzzles and challenges that require you to think up creative uses for the portal gun to get past and survive. It didn't reveal whether Portal has any connection to Half-Life 2 other than being set in the same universe (same artwork, style, etc.). It didn't show any type of living enemy, and I don't think the game will be used to tie in the story line, at least not right now. I hope they expand the idea even further than just a single-player puzzle game, because it looks like you could have some really exciting multiplayer action with the game. Valve continues to show their ability and desire in be innovative and inventive when it comes to creating games.

The other big announcement was the most surprising: Team Fortress 2 is in fact very much alive, and will also be bundled with Episode 2. This is a game that has been in limbo almost as long as Duke Nukem Forever. The biggest change is the artwork for the game; the characters look like something out of a Pixar movie. Their figures are cartoonish and exaggerated. Personally, I think it's a great look. Team Fortress isn't about realism, it's about fun. The video didn't show any gameplay, just the character models, so it isn't really known whether Valve is planning on it being the revolutionary multiplayer game they said it would be seven years ago. I'm guessing after all this time, and after games like the Battlefield series that have already done with Valve planned to do with TF2, that the game will be more like a port to the Source engine. But if they're including it free with Episode 2, that's okay by me.

M. Knight Shyamalan's Lady in the Water comes out this weekend. I was planning on seeing it, but it's not getting the best reviews, and after the mediocre Village, I'm a little hesitant now. There really haven't been many movies I've been looking forward to this year. I'm tired of superhero movies, and I was bored with Pirates of the Caribbean before it even came out because I knew it would be more of the same (they made it LONGER than the first?! Doesn't anyone hire an editor anymore?). One of the few I am definitely excited about is Miami Vice. Michael Mann has put out some great movies (HEAT, Collateral) and this looks like it will be more of the same. Jamie Foxx is a good actor, and while Colin Farrell isn't my favorite, he's usually pretty good in these action roles.

And then there's Snakes on a Plane which sounds so terrible that it almost makes me want to see it.