Fandads do not just play video games all day!

Being athletic is one thing that people don't associate with being a fandad.  Most times when people think of fanboys/fandads they visualize overweight guys with thick glasses sitting at home playing video games or reading comics all day.  That is not the case.  Most fandads that I know are active and in good shape and are always looking for something to do to keep them and their little ones busy.  What I have decided to do is list a few upcoming events that might be or interest to those fandads out there looking to relive some glory days.

Video Game Time 5/24 Edition

These are the new releases for Tuesday May 24.

Dead or Alive Dimensions - The popular fighting series in 3D on the 3DS.

Dirt 3 - Latest installment in the popular rally car series. (360,PS3)

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Another movie tie-in that uses the Kinect on the 360 version (360, PS3, Wii, DS)

Naughty Bear (Gold Edition) - Same game with bonus levels and DLC. (360, PS3)

Currently playing LA Noire and need to get a few more hours in to give it a full review, but liking it so far.

The Restructuring of Video Game Time.

I know that Video Game Time has been kind of on a hiatus for some time and it's not for our lack of putting it up.  Lately, there has been a lot of great games coming out that it's hard to keep track of all of them and reviewing them in a timely manner.  So after much thinking about it, I've decided to change the way we do video game time in the future.

Welcome back Sony! A fandads take on the fiasco.

Ok, the PlayStation Network was down for 24 days. 24 Days! To some that seems like an eternity, for me it was more of an annoyance than anything. The network was taken down due to some "security issues" then promises were made, information was compromised and dates for the network to be up and running again came and went. I know that there is more to this story, but I'm just giving you the abridged version.  What was a fandad to do?

TV Show Rant

I know I've ranted about this before, but I'm going to do it again, so BACK OFF! Lol. I think I'm going to stick to movies and DVDs from now on. No more watching crap on tv, I'll stick to whatever I'm currently watching, wait for that to get cancelled and/or end and that'll be it.

I was upset that Terriers got pulled, and now they're pulling The Chicago Code. I also thought that Mad Love was pretty funny, even though Jason Biggs gets on my nerves, and Lie to Me was friggin' awesome. All gone. I was especially invested (vested?) in Lie to Me, the other two shows were only one season but Lie to Me had a great cast and it was interesting and different. Outsourced was funny, but it was kind of expected, no big names other than "Oswald". America's Most Wanted, it's been cancelled before so maybe it'll come back, Friday Night Lights was excellent, but it was cancelled a while ago, luckily it'll get a proper ending. That's what bugs me the most, the lack of closure on some of these shows. Take Smallville for instance, started out great, sucked for a while, admittedly, I stopped watching, and this last season was pretty awesome. I'm not even that much of a Superman fan, but the show did his mythos justice. He should totally play Supes on the big screen. 

What makes matters worse is the stuff they keep. Does the world really need three CSI's? Cougar Town? Glee? The Cleveland Show? Speaking of which, I like McFarland, to a point, but the reboot of The Flintstones is just a bad idea I think. We'll see. Anyway, I'm ranting, and although there are still a lot of good shows continuing to live on, it's going to take a lot to get me to watch a new show.

Hmm..this and my DVR make me think that we spend way too much time watching TV, on the other hand there's not much else we can do, it's cheap and it's convenient, at least until the kids are older, I suspect I'll be watching lots of TV. For parents with small children at home, DVRs are a Godsend. Especially if you don't agree on what to watch sometimes. I can watch my shows at night when everyone's asleep, and the wife can watch her shows whenever she gets a chance. Especially for people like me who hate interruptions, and commercials, heh. Anyway, I've got to get back to L.A. Noire for a little while, (again, while everyone's sleeping) until next time...


-Gil 

Sony is back online!

Here are a few words from Kazuo Hirai about the re-launching or the Playstation Network. 




What do you think of this message? Is this enough to make up for the weeks of no service? Let us know what you think.

More Gears Beta Codes.

We here at Fandads have been able to get our hands on a few more codes for the Gears of War 3 beta.  How can I get one you ask?  Well, this time it will be a little different than the last contest we held and you'll have multiple chances to win.  Each way listed below counts as one entry, doing them all gives you three entries to win.

• Leave a comment below as to why Gears 3 will be the best Gears game ever.  
• If you follow us on twitter (@fandads) copy and paste the sentence "I just entered the "Why I believe Gears 3 will be the best" contest over on @fandads for a free beta code. http://tinyurl.com/fandads
• "Like" our fanpage on Facebook. (If you already do, that will count as an entry.)

Winners will be announced by midnight tonight, so get going and tell your friends and we'll see you on the frontlines.

Thor

Thor was pretty good. He's never been one of my favorite characters but I am familiar with his mythology and in my opinion they did a great job of telling his story. Loki was good in the movie, as was Odin. Sif, Volstagg and the other warriors were also prominent in the film. (I did have a problem with an aspect of Loki's character but I won't mention it as it may be a spoiler) It does a fair job of tying the story into the Avengers and SHIELD, and a character or two make cameos and are mentioned, but I think that it was probably geared more towards people that don't know much about Thor. I guess every first movie is, Spider-Man, Iron Man, they all have to give the origin story for the benefit of those who aren't familiar with the characters. The effects were great, I especially liked how they weaved the Hubble Telescope pictures into the film. I watched it in 3D IMAX, although I really can't say it did much for me. I guess the 3DS has made 3D kind of novel for me at the moment. Overall, I definitely would recommend this movie for comic book fans, and it's probably a decent watch for action fans. It's not going to be in my top ten superhero movies, but it's definitely not in the bottom either.

Afterwards, my friends and I hit Buffalo Wild Wings and had some grub and a couple of beers. It was my first beer in several months. Crazy. My baby girl is nine months old, and in that time I've gone out probably a handful of times. You've got to try to make time for yourself or you'll go nuts. This was a good chance for me to catch up with old friends and blow off some steam, I actually felt like a real live person for a while instead of just a dad and a student, heh. Not that I'm complaining, I'm getting too old for the clubs and bars, but every once in a while it's fun to just have a day to yourself.


-Gil 

To 3D or not 3D, that is the question...

Let's talk about the Nintendo 3DS.  I know it's been out for a while but I wanted to spend a little time with it before I posted my review. Let's start out with the basics. It costs as much as a console and it doesn't come with a game. Ouch. Sure, it has AR Games, A Mii game, and Face Raiders, but I'm not sure if it's enough. Now, I'm upgrading from an old DS so I'm not sure what was on the DSi but the camera, activity log, recorder and pedometer are all new to me and fun additions. It's pricey but it kept me busy until I was able to purchase a game a few days later.

Thanks

As I am sure you've all heard, Osama Bin Laden is dead. The Fandads would like to take a moment to say thanks to all of the brave dads, moms, women, and men bravely serving our country and doing us proud. We can all sleep a little bit easier tonight.