Kanye West: Calling out the New Jim Crow with “New Slaves”

Kanye West is one of the most prolific rappers in modern history modern being 2010 and on. Before that I can only assume people were banging out beats on the back of dinosaurs, mastodons, or other animals and grunting.

Historic Photograph

In all seriousness though the last mainstream rapper to really address philosophical and political issues died in 1996. Since then we’ve had Mos Def, Common, Lupe Fiasco, and Andre 3000. The only one with real “crossover”, “mainstream” appeal is Andre 3000 and that was only with one of his Outkast albums. Ask anybody who wasn’t black who they were before the love below and you’d get “aren’t they the Scooby Doo guys?” Everybody else who has become millionaires off of merchandising and opportunistic business capitalization have completely sold out any chance they have at making a real statement. Jay-Z actually used to talk about things that mattered, now its all materialistic. Actually today a rapper can garner a huge following talking about the stuff they DON’T have as if they had it. At some point the record labels realized people would pay them to have their rappers put their crap in their lyrics. I was working at a liquor store and I swear Moscato stayed on the shelf until they started saying it in rap songs that they played in the club. Not just black college kids but all races all of a sudden had a taste for this sweet wine meant for desserts. Of course they never drank it in the manner it was supposed to be but alas such is life.

uhhhh glasses are for wimps *hurl

I have long had an issue with the direction rap took. It started off as an amazing way to express an opinion. A way for people to get the word out about what was really going on. Public Enemy, Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, and I must included The last poets in there as well though they were more than rappers.These rappers realized the type of platform this gave them and utilized it in a way that made people think. I’m not saying club music doesn’t have its place but why is EVERYTHING that comes out meant to objectify women or get you to buy something?

I’ve been upset with it for awhile now but what could I do? I can’t rap, all I can do is write a few thousand words on a blog and join the rest of the league of upset guys on the internet who complain. That’s why when Kanye west debuted his two new songs New slave and Black Skinhead my ears perked up.  He debuted New slaves on random walls throughout the world. The next day he performed New slaves and debuted Black Skinhead on SNL. These are two hard hitting songs from his new album.

Immediately I could pick up major influences in the style he chose to get his message across. The musical influences being one that has influenced him in the past, Common. Also The last poets were clearly a major influence.

His blasting of even himself when it comes to materialism and exposure of the crooked system that puts a disproportionate amount of blacks and minorities behind bars is just what people need. He took a stand on SNL where they COULD NOT ignore him. Honestly its people who probably didn’t get it, there are people who think what he did is wrong, that he’s trying to quit, give up.

He’s not.

Kanye West is just get started, if you’d been paying attention you’d have been waiting for this moment. When he’d stop making stuff just to seal up his position, one thing about him if you do your research, Kanye has always been Kanye. Even before he was famous he jumped on tables screaming he was the next Michael Jackson. He’s a little crazy yes but in order to do what you love doing and be great at it, you’ve gotta be crazy.

“I know that we the new slaves…
Meanwhile the DEA, teamed up with the CCA
They tryina lock n—s up, they tryna make new slaves
See that’s the privately owned prison, get your piece today
They prolly all in the Hamptons, braggin ’bout what they made”

With new slaves he aired out the DEA and the CCA which operate over the privately owned prisons. At the same time he spoke on how the actual conspiracy theories that people like to follow and quote about NWO and Illuminati are bull and nothing more than distractions from the real problems. The laws that effectively act as new Jim Crow laws, putting more African-Americans behind bars now than were in slavery in 1850.  The private prison owners and boards are raking in profits at rates never before seen while the leaders in the minority communities fight to keep their children from going behind bars. The truth is though, everything right now is set perfectly for this to happen. They (prison owners) don’t want immigrants and minorities out of jail.  In recent SEC filings, CCA admitted that drug law reform and reductions in mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent crimes are “risk factors” for them that could hurt their bottom line. Corporations never play about their “bottom line.” Unfortunately for all of America, their bottom line means the destruction of our youth, many missed opportunities. Just one glimpse inside a prison and you will see several extremely intelligent people who perhaps because of this intelligence found themselves looking for ways of expression that may have led them to hang around the wrong people. Maybe they didn’t even do anything, (people are being released after going back through cases and being proven innocent at a growing rate)who knows, the point is when you are living in a system designed to make you fail its going to be hard. Especially when that same system also makes darn sure that you think its completely your fault that you failed. Any mention of unfairness and its “no you have the same chance as everyone else, quit whining and get your act together.” Really? Because when you’re saturated with media telling you to hate yourself because your dumb and evil, self worth and will power kind of wanes. Here’s an experiment that’s been done probably a few times every decade with African-Americans, with the same results.

“Y’all throwing contracts at me
You know that n**** can’t read” 

The irony and sarcasm in this one line alone from “New Slaves” makes it one of my favorite. In it he is showing how quickly he would turn down a chance to sell out in order to put forth better music and a better image. Anything that can be put into the media to counteract this mess you saw in that last video is a positive thank you Kanye for at least putting forth a strong black image in your music.

Black Skinhead is more geared towards the perception of blacks when they are proud of their race and doing well as well as when they are acting wild. It is also very good and insightful. He’s not afraid to put his own life on the chopping block and this allows for him to put everyone’s mess on display.

I’ve always listened to his music but I’ve never been excited to see a new album drop like I am for this one. He’s got the world listening right now, he’s dropped two amazing singles already, what is he going to do now? More importantly what are we as minorities going to do now?

 

Thanks for reading, Viva la revolution’ Entertainment Industry!

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

Most Underrated Xbox Title of All Time!

Advent Rising!

System: Original Xbox

Price: Well when I bought it used it was $2

I remember when I first picked this game up for 2 dollars at a pawn shop in college. My friends and I came back from band practice (all music majors at the time) put it in the Xbox and sat back to see what a crappy game I’d purchased.

Immediately we were blown away by the composition of the music. I mean epic is basically the bare minimum for the term you’d have to use to describe it. It caught us so off guard we actually laughed.

This wasn’t what we expected.

STORYLINE

Almost immediately we were thrown into a new world where the stars were no longer the limits and humans were being sent out as ambassadors to meet an entire species that thought of them as holy creatures. Soon after they meet them, the aliens that want to destroy them attack their ship. The main character Gideon uses previously unknown psychic powers to help stop the attack and then he is sucked through a wormhole. That’s where the game really starts.

I’m big on character driven stories. I think everyone subconsciously is, I mean you can’t really care about what’s going on in a story if you don’t care about the characters. In advent rising they really push the dynamics between the characters. Gideon is the younger brother of a hot shot war hero. His brother basically gets him a job just off of his charisma and Gideon is left wondering if he is completely worthless. There are many other characters that add to the drama and feel of this game. Overall this storyline just gets 5 stars from me, this is what I love to see from my video games. Take it seriously, develop those characters and subplots!

Characters

Gideon Wyeth (voiced by Will Friedle) — The main character of the game. He is a member of one of the last human outposts.
Ethan Wyeth — Gideon’s hotshot older brother. Because of his celebrity following the Independence Wars, he is assigned the role of pilot for the mission of first contact with the Aurelians. He used his connections to instate Gideon as his co-pilot.
Olivia Morgan (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) — Gideon’s fiancé, a scientist assigned to Luriam space station.
Marin Steel — A decorated pilot from the Independence Wars, she encounters Gideon as he attempts to escape Bahr Han on her ship. She is captured by the Seekers and unsuccessfully imprisoned on the island of Teran, having developed her own psychic powers.
Kelehm Farwaters (voiced by Dwight Schultz) — A ninth-tier Garhgon (an Aurelian religious caste), he has trained himself in the telekinetic arts. Kelehm belongs to “the old faith” which states that the discovery of humans is part of a prophecy and the Aurelians will gain greater psychic power through them.
Enorym Tenspur (voiced by Michael Bell) — Ally to Gideon and the most highly trained of the Aurelian elite fighters, Enorym serves as a commander of the elite Felidic warriors. Enorym leads an assault on a Seeker ship shortly after Gideon learns how to use his psychic powers.
Bud – A troublemaking Marine that starts a bar fight with Gideon and later challenges him and Ethan to a training match. After losing, Bud fires a blaster at Ethan. The player then has the choice of either using a stungun to disable Bud or picking up a blaster and killing him, which determines whether his squadmates help you or abandon you in a later gameplay segment.
K’Chell — A Seeker ambassador who interrupts the planetary ruling council and demands that the Aurelians hand over Gideon and Marin. When Kelehm refuses, K’Chell kills him, then escapes to the ansible to inform the Seeker armada.
Sevan — A council member on Aurelia, he leads a rebellion to give the humans to the Seekers and avoid retaliation. After staging a coup, he co-opts the council, gives Marin to the Seekers, and puts Enorym on trial for treason.
Banath — Originally serving as Enorym’s best warrior, he is revealed to be a double agent for Sevan. Having planted a Seeker ambush inside the ansible, Banath becomes visibly angry after Enorym orders him to escort Marin back to the Aurelian capital. He returns with a dropship manned by other rebels after giving Marin to the Seekers and announces his betrayal by killing one of Enorym’s warriors. Gideon kills Banath shortly after Enorym is put on trial.

GAMEPLAY

As Gideon you’ll be able to utilize his kinetic abilities. One of my favorite parts of this game is the fact that he is just learning them. Now clearly this something many games use in order to make your character weaker in the beginning so the game will be harder. However in Advent rising they really mean he is LEARNING and he doesn’t stop ever. You get new and exciting moves and upgrades all the way through until the last stage. The greatest part of this game is they always throw something new at you and honestly its not even when one thing gets old, they just do it. Oh you’ve got a gun? Here take this Kinetic energy, oh you’ve got kinetic energy? How about SHOOTING FIREBALLS out of your hands? Oh I see you’ve got a Jeep- HOVER CRAFT!

Pictured: The head developer

One of the more interesting parts of this game is the control system. They have made use of a “flick targeting” control system that utilizes the second joystick. It’s very cool once you get used to it. Basically you flick the stick in the direction of the offending enemy and all of your attacks then go directly to that foe. This really comes in handy as its a large cartoony looking world. A third person shooter like that would have been a hair pulling experience trying to aim.

The enemies are intelligent and vary in size and abilities. They all have several specialized attacks of their own. While one tries to over power you with its extra limbs, another might try to snipe you from a distance, while yet another will try and Rambo you with automatic weapons. All in all the controls and enemies you fight make for very exciting and fun game-play.

Here are the actual controls for the game.

GIDEON CONTROLS
Left Thumbstick Walk. Run. Click In to Toggle Crouch/Stand
Right Thumbstick Flick Targeting
A Button Jump. Pull Up From Hanging Position.
B Button Melee Attack
X Button Arm Left-Handed Weapon (Hold). Dodge From Hanging Position. Activate.
Y Button Arm Right-Handed Weapon (Hold). Reload Weapon.
White Button Throw Grenade. Toggle Grenade (Hold).
Black Button Select Alt Fire Mode (With Right or Left Trigger)
Left Trigger Fire Left-Handed Weapon
Right Trigger Fire Right-Handed Weapon
Combo #1 X + A = Charge Jump
Combo #2 Any Direction + X = Acrobatic Moves

Also there are vehicles! These are pretty cool
SCYTHE VEHICLE CONTROLS
Directional Pad Enter or Exit Driver Side (From the Left). Enter or Exit Turret Side (From the Right).
Left Thumbstick Up = Forward. Down = Reverse.
Right Thumbstick Turn Left/Right. Aim Turret Chain Gun.
A Button Jump
Right Trigger Turbo. Fire Turret Chain Gun.

SHIPS/SHUTTLES CONTROLS
Left Thumbstick Forward = Thrusters. Down = Slow.
Right Thumbstick Steering
Right Trigger Thrusters

ANTI-AIRCRAFT TURRET CONTROLS
Right Thumbstick Aim
X Button Activate/Release
Right Trigger Fire

GRAPHICS

Now the graphics are the only reason why any one would ever doubt this game. The director made the choice to have elongated limbs which made them look more like comic book characters. This is an artist’s choice, however it gave them a weird gangly look (the game was originally supposed to be a comic book which may explain why he wanted this so badly). The frame rate does lag in certain areas doing certain things, however it is never enough to detract from the game as a whole. Plus I mean look at it! It still looks AMAZING for an original Xbox game. It plays well and by well I mean its extremely exciting.

Music

Ok I have to come back to this music because…well it’s part of me! I love music and truthfully a game with poorly composed music will make me put it down just as quickly as bad graphics.

But here are two examples of the total and complete epicness of the music for this game.

Here’s another one which is used a few times during boss battles but they have more themes as well.

The music was composed by Emmanuel Fratianni and Michael Richard Plowman and performed by Laurie Robinson and Tommy Tallarico. Here’s the list of songs for the entire soundtrack.

Advent Rising Original Soundtrack (57:21)
No. Title Length
1. “Muse” 3:08
2. “Poeta” 3:36
3. “Bounty Hunter” 3:05
4. “Aurelia” 3:03
5. “Greater Lights (feat. Charlotte Martin)” 3:52
6. “Glorious Human” 1:46
7. “Stolen Transport” 2:15
8. “Canyon Encounter” 2:04
9. “The Rise Of Aurelia” 2:01
10. “Edumeas Last Stand” 2:04
11. “Aurelian Conflict” 2:04
12. “The Aurelian Movement” 2:21
13. “Luriam Down” 1:04
14. “The Human Movement” 2:09
15. “Human Demise” 1:35
16. “Seeker Assault” 2:05
17. “Midst Of The N’Kul” 0:34

18. “Seeker Horde” 1:04

19. “Fiery Arrival On Aurelia” 0:55
20. “Power Within” 2:11
21. “Fortified Strength” 1:01
22. “Mastery Of Self” 2:20
23. “Return To Humanity” 2:16
24. “The Seeker Movement” 2:09
25. “Seeker Unrest” 2:05
26. “Conquest” 0:36
27. “Greater Lights (Jay-J’s Shifted UP Mix)” 3:58

WHY ISN’T THIS GAME HAILED AS AWESOME?

Well apparently there was a terrible marketing strategy of people being able to win one million dollars if they were able to decipher secret messages in the games various levels. Due to issues with security they had to shut down the contest which cost them quite a lot of money and advertisement. Also the first reviews for this game were way off, giving them five out of ten. Later they went back and fixed that with reviews like 8 out of ten or 7.8 out of 10 (IGN). Without advertising its hard to really get as big as you should be able to. However there is a core community online that knows about this game and they LOVE it. Its getting bigger and bigger by word of mouth, unfortunately it may be a little late for the company that produced it. However there are sites and Facebook pages online dedicated to this game and to creating a sequel.

SEQUEL

Will there be one? Who knows, it’s one of those things, teased forever but it’s anybody’s guess. Some things weren’t meant for sequels (Hangover I’m looking at you). However this game clearly was written to be given at least two more entries. Especially taking into account the terrific ending that happens AFTER the credits. Oh and that’s not just a cutscene there is GAMEPLAY after the credits. Yeah I had walked away (like a BOSS) after thinking I had beaten one of the best games ever made.

My face when I saw what was going on.

Suffice to say that last part was the icing on the cake. I mean that really let me know how much one, they respected this genre, and two knew about cinematic qualities being infused with video games. It was an amazing teaser for the next game which unfortunately never came out. Yet there are still those who are pushing for it.

On the plus side they have produced a line of comic books that I haven’t read but apparently they follow up so if you want to check those out here.

RATING

If you couldn’t already tell this is getting five out of five stars. The story is excellent, the music is amazing, the gameplay is exciting, fun and always advancing. It does a great job in making you feel what Gideon is feeling and all of these things merge together at the end to make one amazing experience.  The replay value is VERY high on this as they’ve included a way to upgrade different abilities. Also if its ever NOT fun to dive through the air and force blast an enemy into a lake of lava please stop the planet because I’ll be getting off.

So the bottom line is, if you haven’t gone out and purchased this game, do it. Seriously it’s like 2 bucks and an original Xbox is like 30 bucks now(because its not backwards compatible sucks I know.)

Thanks for reading everyone! I’ll keep  you up to date with new Xbox One news as well as PS4 news when they start delivering it. As always I’ll be bringing you old school reviews!

Thanks Again!

Sincerely

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

Spielberg and Halo, sounds promising but will it work?

Long ago when I t’was but a child, a game emerged from the darkness that changed First person shooters forever. That game was Halo, and almost as long as its been out, there have been rumors about its first foray onto the big screen. First Peter Jackson signed on then off again, no wait on again! Then back off and the project labored in development hell and fans around the world screamed and shook their fists at the moon, or maybe that was just me.

Anyway video games to movies usually end one of two ways, terrible for the fans or terrible in general. Resident Evil is a good example, I challenge you to show me at this point, any connection to the game’s plot at all. I won’t wait because it’s not there. They completely overhauled it into an apocalyptic zombie fest which isn’t bad but it definitely isn’t a reflection on the survival horror game I came to love that had you constantly searching for ammo.

Street fighter legend of Chun-Li made me literally hate Chun-Li, I honestly haven’t played as her on Street fighter since then. It was such a bad movie (as was the first street fighter) that it may have negatively impacted sales of the video game.

What usually happens is the production companies see the video game industry as a comical thing. They don’t respect the genre and see it as a cheap way to make money, so they go cheap on it. They don’t get the best producers, they get the writers that have never proven themselves in an action genre. I.E The writers for the Tekken movie had people that only wrote dramatic films which led to over developed characters, not enough action, and a storyline that never quite got fulfilled.

However with all of these things in mind Microsoft would not allow that to happen to the child it stole from Apple(c’mon people look its right here). They have now enlisted Steven Spielberg to Executive Produce a Halo television series for Xbox Live gold members.

Now here’s the problem…A TELEVISION SERIES. Halo is far to epic in reach and scope to be confined to the small screen. Honestly I don’t know if I want to see the Master Chief every week anyway. He lacks the character to be seen repeatedly in this sense. In fact the most interesting dynamic in the entire game is his relationship with Cortana, the computer that is far more human than he is.

“For me, the ‘Halo’ universe is an amazing opportunity to be at the intersection where technology and storytelling meet,” Spielberg said.

I just don’t know on the one hand it’s Spielberg, coming off of Lincoln I’m sure he’s just itching for some sci-fi epic goodness. On the other hand a television series with characters that are basically reasons for the Master Chief to blow things up in awesome ways just seems, unreasonable. Now I know as a quasi-nerd I should go by the “in Spielberg we trust” rule but for me its doubly rough to take the fact that a feature length live action film probably won’t be made, and also that Halo will be basically an experimental project for the Xbox1′s crossover capabilities and appeal.

Hopefully it will be as awesome as it’s potential but that will be seen in the months to come. Until then I’ll keep holding out for a Gears of War movie. Maybe they’ll wait a year or so and I’ll be able to direct that. You never know!

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

48 Hour Film Festival Update!

As you may know Team Wiseguy Industries is now an official team entered into the 48 hour Film Festival thanks to sponsorship by The Home Medical Supply Store. Tonight we had our first official meeting and wow my team is even bigger than I’d thought! All of these talented people will be working to make the best film in 48 hours that they can and we’re all excited and ready to go!

Brian Bell(that’s me!)-Team leader, Director,Writer,Producer

Dave Carlson-Assistant Director,Writer

Douglas Guerra-Director of Photography

Mike Sayre-Composer

Damon Griffin-Chief Editor

Rohan Parikh-Actor

Roy Scandela-Actor

Sally Conners-Actress

Shuiken Chan-Actress

Bill Sullivan-Actor

Samira Gibson-Actor

Jahim Henry-Actor

Fransisco Gregory-Actor

Natalie Harris-Actress

Courtney Harris-Actress

Ruby Shattuck-PA

Ryan Fritzmartin-PA

Thanks in advanced for all of you talented, driven people!

If you are in the NYC area check out the screenings! Team Wiseguy Industries will not, I repeat WILL NOT disappoint!

Premiere Screenings

Date 6/7/13 6/8/13, 6/9/13
Time 6p, 8p, 6p, 8p, 7p
Place Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth Street, New York, NY 10003

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT Movie review: On the Waterfront

“I coulda been a Contendah!” For me this is THE call of the downhearted, hopeless, and regret filled man. This is a classic line from the classic film “On The Waterfront” starring Marlon Brando. Terry(Brando) is a small time dock worker who is the younger brother of the accountant of the mob leader. The mafia runs the docks dolling out work to those who they feel are falling in line and removing those that don’t. Everything’s going pretty well for Terry, his connection to his brother helps him get consistent work and eventually a lofty position as a guy who does nothing but gets paid…pretty sweet. However, ever since his unwitting aide in the murder of Joey Doyle, Terry’s been thinking about his turns in life. He meets Joey Doyle’s sister and as usual the woman throws everything out of balance. She is bent on finding her brother’s murderer, putting Terry in a strange predicament that ultimately changes his life.

This is a great story of redemption, sacrifice, struggle, love, anger, and finally justice. This film takes you down several different roads of emotion and really delivers in its ending scene when you realize that Terry was meant to be more than just a Contender.

Marlon Brando turns in another amazing performance and he has great help from Eva Marie Saint playing the sister and Brando’s love interest. Everyone in this film did a tremendous job portraying their characters and above all making them very believable. The direction was also superb and everything came together beautifully to make an amazing experience.

If you haven’t watched this film do yourself a favor, ignore that its in black in white, (I know they lived like cavemen back then!) and watch it. One of the best films I’ve ever seen!

Here’s the complete cast and crew as listed on Internet Movie Database
Directed by
Elia Kazan

Writing credits
Budd Schulberg (screenplay)

Budd Schulberg (based upon an original story by)

Malcolm Johnson (suggested by articles by)

Cast (in credits order) verified as complete

Marlon Brando … Terry Malloy

Karl Malden … Father Barry

Lee J. Cobb … Johnny Friendly

Rod Steiger … Charley Malloy
Pat Henning … Kayo Dugan

Leif Erickson … Glover
James Westerfield … Big Mac
Tony Galento … Truck
Tami Mauriello … Tillio
John F. Hamilton … ‘Pop’ Doyle (as John Hamilton)
John Heldabrand … Mott
Rudy Bond … Moose
Don Blackman … Luke
Arthur Keegan … Jimmy
Abe Simon … Barney

Eva Marie Saint … Edie Doyle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Martin Balsam … Gillette (uncredited)
Dan Bergin … Sidney (uncredited)
Zachary Charles … Dues Collector (uncredited)
Jere Delaney … Bit Part (uncredited)
Robert Downing … Bit (uncredited)

Michael V. Gazzo … Bit (uncredited)

Fred Gwynne … Slim (uncredited)
Thomas Handley … Tommy Collins (uncredited)
Anne Hegira … Mrs. Collins (uncredited)

Pat Hingle … Jocko (uncredited)

Scottie MacGregor … Mother of a Longshoreman (uncredited)
Barry Macollum … Johnny’s Banker (uncredited)
Tiger Joe Marsh … Longshoreman (uncredited)
Edward McNally … Bit Part (uncredited)
Mike O’Dowd … Specs (uncredited)

Nehemiah Persoff … Cab Driver (uncredited)
Johnny Seven … Longshoreman (uncredited)

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell

How can you start the day?

Obviously c’mon supes you know better than to ask that!

XBOX ONE REVEALED TODAY DETAILS HERE!

Today is the big day! Xbox one is finally revealed in dramatic form in Seattle and London. Ok now some of these things (like Steven Spielberg’s connection with Halo, awesome) I will have to address in separate Blogs that I will link to in this article when they are up. However right now I will list everything that I can at the moment.

CONTROLLER

First there is a “new” controller that basically looks exactly like the old one but black and a little sleeker.

The real upgrades to the controller take place on the inside.

The triggers are apparently very responsive and the directional pad has been reworked for touch sensitivity as well.

Everything else pretty much looks the same, the joysticks are concave now which seems like it will give you a little more control.

The images on the start and back buttons are different but seriously relax people, they’ll probably do the same things as before.

The bumper’s are still there (remember the black and white buttons? Good times…)  With this controller Microsoft opted to keep the traditional controller and focus on other upgrades for their new system.

SYSTEM

The Xbox One is powered by an eight-core AMD processor and a very powerful graphics processor. Codenamed “Durango,” the console, gaming site Kotaku reports, will have 500GB of storage space, 8GB of RAM and USB 3.0 connectivity right out of the box. It also now has Blu-Ray capabilities! This will give us cleaner cut scenes and of course access to a wider movie base as everything is moving toward blu-ray (been moving toward it). It has wi-fi built in also which wasn’t featured in the original 360 but was later added into the Elite version.

All of this power will make for games with amazing visuals and equally amazing gameplay. Hopefully the story lines will be as awesome, graphics aren’t a band-aid for poorly written material.

KINECT

Kinect is now an extremely integral part of this system as it will not work without it. That’s what I said it WILL NOT WORK unless your Kinect is attached, but take a deep breath and chill reader, it comes with one.They have completely upgraded Kinect and it can now take 1080 video as well as notice subtle movements. It is also compatible with the Xbox controller. By moving the controller you can do different activities in the game which makes it possible to utilize the Kinect even in traditional games. They’ve also upgraded the speaking functions allowing for a wider range of voice commands utilizing the Kinect’s microphone. Another addition is the Kinect’s upgraded light to object meter and camera. It now has the ability to work in a completely dark room. Microsoft is really pushing the Kinect’s limits in order to captialize on one of their more popular add-ons. Seems like a good idea, Nintendo tapped into an entirely new marketplace with the accessibility of the Wii’s control. Perhaps just using your hands and voices will appeal to that same consumer base? We shall see!

GAMES

They haven’t revealed many games and the ones they have are the ones that are on every system such as FIFA soccer and NBA live. Microsoft execs have stated that there are 15 games in production right now and 8 are Xbox exclusive. They are probably saving these reveals for the E3 event and are focused more on the actual gaming systems special functions.

I’m sure however it’s safe to say that fan favorite trilogies such as Halo and Gears of War will be back for the Xbox1. Also I just saw the trailer for Batman Arkham origins that may be playable on Xbox1 depending on the release. Even still it may get a Xbox1 and 360 release so we can look forward to that.

I for one would love to see Prey 2, I loved the first game and even though the second one seems quite different, I wouldn’t mind seeing what Tommy has been up to.

SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

Xbox one will allow you to chat with friends on Skype(owned by Microsoft) while watching a movie on the new Blu-ray system or watching live TV, or surfing the web. In addition to adding more voice recognition functions, they’ve added a lot of integrated app functions. This means when you download an app such as ESPN, you can get the updates while you play. You can also hook your cable up to the Xbox and record shows as well as get show recommendations based on what you usually watch.

The real focus of Microsoft has moved from purely gaming to entertainment as a whole. Microsoft is attempting to send the entire entertainment industry through their product. From your cable television programs to their own programming that will be coming soon, you can send all sorts of entertainment through it.

Well I guess they had do something because as I hear Apple is coming with something similar later on, and people by Apple stuff just because it says Apple on it.

Microsoft has built deeper Smartglass support into the console, letting you use your smartphone or tablet to display secondary information. However this is the only thing that has been released regarding  news of Xbox one’s compatibility with tablets and mobile devices. Hopefully we’ll hear about that more later on. However for the present time that is the only thing that is a little disturbing. I’ve had the Xbox live app on my phone for awhile and I would love to see an upgraded version of that soon.

It’s clear that Microsoft has decided to attempt to grow not only with their games, but with entertainment as a whole. With this new Xbox they are attempting to give the consumer the ability to do everything from watch television to record videos, through their product. It seems like an exciting situation and I can’t wait to find out the (hopefully) amazing things that will be done with it.

The release date is sometime in 2013 though they failed to be more specific about when.

Sony didn’t stay quiet as they threw a little “shade” Microsoft’s way via twitter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well we await your full announcement with bated breath Sony!

Oh and Spielberg is Executive Producing a Live Action Halo series for Xbox Gold.

Ha! More on that later! Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Wiseguy Industries