Video of Watch Dogs gameplay

I just watched the 14 minute gameplay trailer for Watch Dogs, and am already starting to even more interested in the possibilities of the game (especially the ability to seamlessly hack into another player's single-player experience). 

If you haven't heard of it yet, where have you been? The concept of the game is revolves upon hacking electronic devices near the character in order to adapt the environment to the player's needs. When I first heard about Watch Dogs I though that it was a really interesting idea for a game. Now that I have seen some actual in game interactions, all I can say is that I hope that there isn't too much difference between the game released for current generation consoles, and that released for next generation consoles.

Here are some wallpapers to download if you need to get your daily dose of Watch Dogs immediately.

Something's happening on 9 September at 9 p.m.

According to Arcade Fire's clip on YouTube, labelled 'Reflektor 9/9/9' we can expect some sort of release on that date at 9 p.m. Since a date for the launch of the new album has already been revealed to be 29 October, Monday's surprise could be a new single, the revelation of the album's title (and/ or cover art), or something completely different. I'm hoping for a track off the new record.

USS Enterprise reacts to MTV's Video Music Awards

So I've generally held off posting stories about teen pop stars like Justin Bieber being immature, but I feel this video response to Miley Cyrus' recent performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards was well worth sharing.

Aries Head Films put together this short video showing Captain Kirk and his crew of the USS Enterprise succumbing to the effects of the above mentioned performance. Even if you're not a Star Trek fan, this short video is well worth watching.

What have we learnt from this entire ordeal? Firstly people are a lot more interested in gossiping over the idiotic behaviour of supposed 'artists,' rather than talking about real-world issues that will ultimately affect us all for a lot longer than watching Cyrus' pathetic behaviour. 

It's times like these that I'm thankful I live in Africa

(Image source: Centre for Research on Globalization)

New Scar the Martyr sneak preview

The new teaser clip from Scar the Martyr is the best one yet. The last two showed the band's softer side, but Dark ages is full-on, balls to the wall metal!

I think I'm more excited excited to hear this album than I was over Nine Inch Nails newest offering.

Seether announce greatest hits complilation

Seether have just released the following announcement regarding their greatest hits compilation Seether: 2002-2013:

"Hey Guys

Johnny here. Well, it's official... We are "one of those" bands. We are at a point in our journey that we have decided to bookend this era of our career with our upcoming Greatest Hits release "Seether: 2002-2013". When we were given the task of assembling the tracklisting... we knew it wasn't going to be easy. But, believe it or not, we are also fans of the band and wanted to approach it with what would "we - a Seether fan" like to hear in a "Seether Greatest Hits."

First, it will be a 2 CD package... Disc 1 will contain all the singles everyone has come to know and love... with nothing left out, I promise.  And for the second disc, we headed into the Seether vaults for some surprise "unreleased" demos, soundtrack only songs and three new recordings.  Yes, we headed back into the studio with our compadre Brendan O' Brien and have churned out some great new music.  We had a blast working together, as always, and we are excited for you guys to hear these two spankin' brand new tracks. And for the "cherry on top" to this fantastic set... We have re-recorded our "namesake"... Veruca Salt's 1994 hit, "Seether."  Recorded and produced by us (much the same way "Careless Whisper" was)... We have put this song thru the Seether filter and churned out a version we can proudly call our own.

Think you can wait until the end of October to hear all that? I know it seems like we are torturing you but, I promise, that is not our intention.  We may not have been touring a lot this year, but now you know we haven't been sitting around either.  So, grab a beer and have piece of mind that the amazing fall weather is upon us, football season is here... and new (with a great arrangement of classic) Seether is on its way... very, very soon.

RSVP for album release day on Facebook

Much Love,

- Johnny"

I've been a fan of Seether from when they were still a relatively unheard of band Pretoria band called Saron Gas. After a name change, a few line-up changes, and a marked change in sound from the their début album, Fragile, these local boys have done really well for themselves. Front man Shaun Morgan Welgemoed still visits South Africa regularly, and occasionally plays local acoustic shows, which often feature an array of local artists providing guest vocals and the like. 

I've managed to see Shaun Morgan and guests perform twice. After the first time I immediately went out and bought Seether's live album, One Cold Night. The second time I saw him perform, it was actually a cold night, as we all got drenched in the rain. Morgan even put down his guitar and came and danced with us in the rain. It was all worth the experience. I'm really interested to see what gems are retrieved from the 'Seether vaults' for inclusion on this compilation.

The price of being a Nine Inch Nails supporter: $6, excluding shipping

This morning I came across Spin's recent interview with Trent Reznor, the mastermind behind Nine Inch Nails, in which he discusses many things, including the value of his music. What really caught my attention though was Reznor saying, "...my personal feeling is that my album's not worth a dime. It's not a buck. I made it as well as I could, and it costs 10 bucks, or go fuck yourself."

Now this is all well and good, except for the fact that I paid '12 bucks' for my copy of Hesitation Marks, and I bought it directly from the official Nine Inch Nails store! Why did I pay more, when there should have been fewer middle-men involved?

Okay, so by ordering directly from the NIN Store I am able to download MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC, or WAV versions of the entire album, as well as the Audiophile Mastered Version in all those formats too. That is well worth the extra '2 bucks.' However, I also ordered the Deluxe CD, which is '20 bucks' at the NIN Store, double Reznor's recommended '10 bucks,' and '4 bucks' more than what Amazon are selling the record for. Again, Why did I pay more, when there should have been fewer middle-men involved?

Using Amazon as the benchmark for suggested retail prices (as they're selling the Standard CD version of Hesitation Marks for $9.99), I've paid a total of $6 more than the suggested retail price for my copies of Hesitation Marks, by ordering directly from the official Nine Inch Nails Store! What has this extra $6 actually bought me? Yes, I have lossless downloads of two mixes of Hesitation Marks (but I have also incurred additional costs by choosing to download these massive ZIP files), however there are no download options available that include the three bonus tracks from the Deluxe CD. Not even in less favourable lossy MP3! So why was the Deluxe CD version $4 more than Amazon, when the Standard CD was only an extra $2, and the files available to download are exactly the same! Why did I pay more, when there should have been fewer middle-men involved, and there are no additional files?

After having previously bought two Nine Inch Nails albums (Ghosts I and The Slip), which were made available as free downloads. I've supported Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails when South African record stores were charging higher prices for his albums than other artists,* and I'm still supporting Reznor. But paying higher prices for Nine Inch Nails records, when buying directly from the official Nine Inch Nails store, I'm definitely starting to feel a little cheated.

When it comes time for Nine Inch Nails to release their next album, I may take Reznor's own advice from 2007 and "Steal it!"

In the mean time I say, "Thanks Trent, here's my 32 bucks, now go fuck yourself."

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* Those "ridiculous prices of CDs" mentioned by Reznor in the above video are also common in South Africa, where physical copies of The Slip were priced three-times more than any other release of the time. While many albums released by other artists in 2008 have come down in price, the price of Ghosts I-IV and The Slip have remained the same as they were on release day.

September 3 music, gaming and movie releases

Tomorrow there are quite a few things being released that I am really looking forward to adding to my various, ever-growing collections. 

First up is Nine Inch Nails' ninth* studio album, Hesitation Marks. I've ordered both the regular and deluxe versions of the CD, because I am a huge collector of Nine Inch Nails related media (but let's leave that for another post when I can share pictures of my entire NIN collection). While I'll have to wait a few weeks to receive the physical editions, I can at least take solace in the fact that I'll be able to download lossless versions of the complete album, as well as the alternative mix, some time tomorrow. Till then I'll sit and listen to Came back haunted, Copy of a, and Everything a few times.

Then, the console version of Diablo III is also hitting shelves tomorrow. I pre-ordered a copy quite some time back in order to secure a copy of the artbook advertised by my local games retailer. Although my copy will be ready for collection tomorrow morning, I wont be able to get to the store until the weekend. While I'm hoping the week will pass relatively quickly, at least I know I should have enough time to finish Diablo II.

Lastly, The Lords of Salem is getting released on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow. I haven't seen the film yet, but it's on my list of things to watch. At present The Lords of Salem doesn't have very favourable scores on IMDb (5.2/ 10), but then again, even Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects only score 5.8/ 10, and 6.8/ 10 receptively. Both of which I'm quite fond of too.

While writing this I realised that I am quite happy to fork out my cash to buy music (either digital or physical CDs) and PlayStation and PC games, but I'm a bit more reluctant when it comes to buying movies. While I do have a small collection of DVDs, it's nothing compared to my CD collection. I may even have more PS3 games now than DVDs. Considering I only bought my PS3 in March, its a good reflection of the where I've been investing my free time and spare cash. I've also come to realise, that after watching a movie I've enjoyed, I tend to buy the novel the film is based upon, rather than the DVD of the film itself. One notable exception is Ang Lee's Life of Pi, for which I'd like to buy the Blu-Ray and the book.

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* Some sources may say it's Nine Inch Nails eighth studio album, but I consider Broken to be an album, not just an EP.