


That experience is exactly what TechSpot is referring to here. They've benchmarked the performance and quality of some... Read All I found this great article by TechSpot today explaining why using "Ultra" settings (or the preset) is "dumb." I have to agree, although I'm one of those gamers that wants the best hardware to be able to easily run any game on that preset. However, this is an expensive and performance demanding preference. It's not based on logic, either. I have noticed great quality in games using only the "High" preset along with great performance. I've also noticed that the "Ultra" preset doesn't usually add anything noticeable, except for the huge performance hit.
That experience is exactly what TechSpot is referring to here. They've benchmarked the performance and quality of some games using really good hardware. Their observations were pretty much what I just said, the quality of "Ultra" presets is usually negligible and comes with a big hit to performance. I really think this is a relevant topic here and I do strongly recommend reading the article. One of the games mentioned is DOOM Eternal and the game recommend that I don't use the highest preset, but the second highest and it was great.
Sometimes it's difficult to decide which settings to use in a game and presets are a great way to do that simply. GeForce Experience can also optionally "optimize" your settings, but I've found that while those settings are usually good, sometimes they are not. This makes me question the basis of the settings that GE chooses.
Take for example Ark: Survival Evolved. I let GE "optimize" my settings when I got my GTX 1660Ti (and other new hardware). However, I noticed the performance with those settings was unacceptable. It was pretty much using the "Epic" preset, which is the "Ultra" one for this game. Ark has been out for a while now and it's been very demanding on hardware since the beginning. This is just an example of a game where the highest preset comes with an unacceptable hit to performance while not really showing any greatly obvious quality improvement that you'd think would come as a result of the settings.
Let me know what you think about this topic. Are you one of the people that *must* have hardware good enough to run on "Ultra" presets? Or are you someone who values performance more and still enjoys good quality? Have you also noticed how "Ultra" presets don't always give really big and noticeable differences in quality, but significant performance hits?
https://www.techspot.com/article/2338-ultra-vs-high-settings/
I didn't want to leave this post w/out an image, so I uploaded a screenshot I took some time ago showing my settings for Ark. This was primarily to help me remember, since the game sometimes resets them.
I try to max out graphics. As long as framerate isn't horrible I am fine. 30 fps is all one needs.
Depending on the game, I won't settle for much less than 60. LOL That's for modern games, but some games are locked at 30 and I usually find that acceptable. More FPS makes me happy, even though I realize it's not all that great and sometimes irrelevant. I think GE helps "optimize" your settings for 30FPS, not 60. The Ark settings it gave me pretty much limited me to around 30 FPS and it wasn't acceptable, performance was still bad. Once I switched to the "high" preset, performance greatly improved along w/ my FPS. I'm still using a 60hz monitor, though I really want to upgrade. I also don't like screen tearing, so I use VSync. I am very interested in GSync especially, though FreeSync is gaining popularity and compatibility.
Iāve noticed the ultra settings providing noticeable quality on some games but not others. Though I usually tweak every setting to see how much benefit vs performance hit I get for each one.
Though when youāre zoned into a game I think itās far less important.
Cool! Thanks for your input, Travis! I usually see if GE can "optimize" settings for a game (which it cannot do for all games) and see how that goes. I like the games that auto-detect and put me at the highest settings LOL. I've done most of my tweaking w/ Ark, as shown in my embedded screen shot. I was tweaking it years ago and I continued to tweak it even until recently.
Iāve found GeForce experience to be a good starting point but sometimes it gets things way wrong. Where some times it puts me in a very poorly running situation, sometimes it tries to make me play things at settings that are nowhere near as advanced as I could use without a performance hit.
I do like the option as a starting point quite a bit though.
Agreed! I have the same experience.
Someday I may have a PC with the ability to run max graphics on. That said, it feels like I do with the Series X but I know compared to some PC's out there it's not as powerful.
I haven't been keeping up, but my perception is that this console is pretty good. They're remaking GTA 5 and Skyrim for both consoles and PC. I seem to remember some games performing much better on the new generation than last. I think Cyberpunk was one example. I'm not too surprised and I think it's good that they've reached this point. They seem to be on par with PC now. I don't know if they have Ray Tracing and DLSS though.
What if life were a video game? Guy found glasses that opened his eyes and he began to see video game things such as health pickups, money, and missions. If you like... Read All Check out the embedded trailer. I don't want to say too much, because I don't want to give away spoilers. Guy, played by Ryan Reynolds, is pretty much the main character but there are other recognizable actors in it as well. The ones I noticed were Taika Waititi and I recognized the voice cameo by Hugh Jackman. You might recognize it, too. It sounds like him, but you don't see his face. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was actually the bank robber in the trailer that Guy shoots. You don't see his face, either.
What if life were a video game? Guy found glasses that opened his eyes and he began to see video game things such as health pickups, money, and missions. If you like video games, you'd probably enjoy it. There are other pop culture references, even a brief cameo from Chris Evans. There's a bit of a Matrix theme going on here, but it's also similar to Ready Player One. So, go check it out, you might find it better than you might expect. It's a must see!
So, I haven't watched the video, but I thought I'd add my two cents in, since you kind of asked for it. I had the game for the Wii and really enjoyed it. I remember the last time I played it, though it was probably 5 or more years ago and was the second time I played it.
My only concern is that I have no idea how you're supposed to play it without the Wii controller, because it relied on that heavily and IMO it worked out well. Clearly they must have found some way around this, though. This may have been pointed out in the video.
I'm surprised that of all people you, Jon, haven't played this. Well, you said you didn't get it on the Wii, but you didn't say you didn't get it on the Wii U, so I could be wrong that you "haven't played this." I don't think I got it for the Wii U, but I could again be wrong, but I definitely had it for the Wii.
> I'm surprised that of all people you, Jon, haven't played this.
It came out at the end of the Wii cycle and I was very focused on the PlayStation 3. Kind of like now. I was pretty focused on the Switch and now Iām mostly playing my Series X.
Ah, I understand, I've gone through similar phases. I'm currently strictly focused on the PC and have been for a while. I'm interested in the Switch, but don't have one at the moment. I'm only slightly interested in the new console generation, but not very. When it comes to them, I'm more interested in when their exclusives will come to PC, if at all.
Anyway, This is a good game and I'm sure they did a good job adapting the controls.
> Anyway, This is a good game and I'm sure they did a good job adapting the controls.
I've heard mixed things about it. Apparently it's possible to control the game with a normal controller but very difficult. You have to still be precise with the sword swinging which isn't the easiest on a thumbstick.
Ah yeah, the motion controls were a big part of it, that's why I was concerned. It was really fun on the Wii.
But, I *love* that this is leaning heavily into the Christmas theme! I hope the show keeps that vibe throughout!
Also, "Rogers: The Musical"? YES PLEASE I didn't expect to be excited about a Hawkeye show. I generally am not a fan of the character.
But, I *love* that this is leaning heavily into the Christmas theme! I hope the show keeps that vibe throughout!
Also, "Rogers: The Musical"? YES PLEASE
Kinda getting Die Hard feels from this š
Yup. Looks good.
Ew, I don't like Christmas. It's the most *not* wonderful time of the year, IMO. Adam's right about his Die Hard comment. I haven't dived into the Marvel comics, so I didn't know who Kate was until I played Marvel's Avengers. She also goes by "Hawkeye." I thought she was Clint's daughter, but she's simply a fan. They have an interesting relationship, though, or at least I think it's interesting. I like Kate in the game and she looks cool here, too.
I had to pause to see because the clip goes by so quickly, but I noticed a woman in red with black hair and a wine glass at a dinner table. She is Vera Farmiga and was in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I really like her because she looks like someone I know (there's a bit more to it than that, but I'm just going to keep it simple here).
Thanks for sharing! Now I'm going to go have a Christmas barf.
Lol! Christmas is my favorite time of year, but if it's not yours, I'm really sorry about how long the season lasts!
One minor detail I saw I the trailer that's probably nothing, but in the Rogers musical, it looks like Loki is wearing a mask, and I want it to me a nod to The Mask with Jim Carrey lol
Yeah, sorry to crap on your favorite time, I meant no offense to you. I guess that's part of why I didn't get into it and decided against saying what I wanted to. Funny, too, how I said your comment about Die Hard was right, but I thought Jon posted this, I later realized you did. So many details, so little I've paid attention to.
I only saw Cap in that musical, everything went by so fast. The Mask was awesome!!!! In fact, it was "smokin'!"
> Now I'm going to go have a Christmas barf.
After how many candy cane cookies?
LOL Well I do like the fruity ones.
Oh! How could I forget! I do love Nightmare Before Christmas! Also, to be fair to Christmas, there isn't a holiday that I like.
Greg you strike me as someone who would enjoy Halloween :)
And yeah this is interesting. Definitely not what I was expecting from Hawkeye but I'm glad the tone feels very different.
> Also, to be fair to Christmas, there isn't a holiday that I like.
Tonight a Ghost of Christmas past will come to visit you...
Well it better be a Cheerful Ghost or I'm calling the Ghostbusters!
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Disney+ never disappoints! Go watch the two episodes they gave us, "bro."
Thanks for the note. Added to my watchlist!
I am really enjoying this! So far the only Marvel show to not 100% connect with me was Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
I've liked all these shows. I'm once again at the point where there are two episodes left and I wonder how they're going to answer all my questions. It's exciting.
I don't like the Christmas aspect of the show, but if you're curious as to why it's there, check this out (it has nothing to do with story details, so definitely no spoilers): https://www.gamespot.com/articles/so-why-is-hawkeye-a-christmas-show/1100-6498720/
It should have been an april 1st story! :)
I like the christmas aspect.
It does help with the episodic timeline. There are only 6 of these and 2 more. It makes sense, because Clint is trying to get home for Christmas.
What if he wanted to get home before April 1st so he could pull an epic prank on his wife? I think I am on to something here. š¤£
Hawkeye is the most awesome Christmas ever, along with The Nightmare Before Christmas. Despite my dislike for this holiday season, I absolutely love this show! It has mysteries, a great plot, great action, and surprises! When it comes to Disney+ (and movies for that matter), the MCU does not disappoint. Be sure to stick around for a post-credits scene, it's quite enjoyable. "I can do this all day!"
I donāt know if Iād say Hawkeye is anywhere near my favorite Marvel series, but it absolutely has my favorite finale of any Marvel show.
Which is weird because theyāve all been so satisfying. But this one is SO satisfying. The finale is probably my favorite single episode of any Marvel TV. Well. Disney Plus Marvel TV. The whole Netflix Universe and Agents of SHIELD is something else but it looks like those lines are getting blurred


In case you didnāt read my review of Shadow of Mordor (link at bottom) or if youāre unfamiliar with the basic game play of this series, Iāll give a friendly introduction. These games take place in the... Read All Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. In a way itās cool, because I felt like the game play was much more fun and addictive than I expected. Unfortunately, enough time passed and I became bored with it. Itās still a great game and I highly recommend it, but in the end I feel āblahā about it. I guess I burned out on it. Iāll let you know about game play mechanics, what I liked, and what I didnāt like along with problems I ran into.
In case you didnāt read my review of Shadow of Mordor (link at bottom) or if youāre unfamiliar with the basic game play of this series, Iāll give a friendly introduction. These games take place in the world of Lord of the Rings (Middle-Earth, of course!). Iād say it occurs some time between about the end of the Hobbit movie trilogy and the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, before the ring of power was destroyed. There are two main characters, Tilion, and Celebrimbor. Tilion was killed along with his family, but he was ābanished from death.ā I think this is explained eventually or at least that he could actually have been relieved of his ācurseā at anytime (no spoilers!). Celebrimbor is an elf, well when we see him heās actually a wraith, but heās not a ring wraith (or nazgul). He was the one who forged the rings, including the ring of power. However, events occurred, which will be revealed throughout Shadow of Mordor.
Talionās ultimate goal is to defeat Sauron, but he canāt compete against Sauronās army of orcs. So, he gains the ability to recruit them by ābrandingā them, which basically means he takes control of their will and they become his soldiers. I was disappointed with a DLC character that would not use this and a second who could not, because branding is one of my favorite parts of the game. Branding an orc replenishes Talionās health. Usually when this happens, itās head explodes and with the right skill upgrade, you can make it so that nearby orcs flee in terror at the sight of this.
Skills are pretty self-explanatory. You get skill points that you can allot to different abilities. There are many abilities you can purchase with skill points. The main ones also have upgrades to them, which you can also with skill points, but you can only have one of these enabled at a time. An example of them is the one I just mentioned regarding head explosion. Eventually, you may run into a point where you have no use for them. At that point, I thought the only thing I could do was to buy the upgrades I didn't want, even if I didn't enable them, but there will come a time where there are a few skills you can keep spending points on. The one I always used was the final health skill, it gives a certain percentage of health you get back from killing an orc. This seemed to go on for a very long time, I never reached a point where I could no longer invest in it as it's increase was very small.
There are regular orcs that can get promoted to be captains, war chiefs, and in Shadow of War, overlords. Whenever you get killed, orcs level up. If a regular orc kills you, itās very likely to get promoted to captain. Orcs have internal feuds, they get promoted by betraying a war chief. Each captain has a set of different attributes. These can be something like a fear of fire, enraged by poison, and immune to arrows, but there are very many more attributes. You wonāt know these at first, youāll have to gather intel to find out. You can see captains strengths, but youāll need intel to reveal their weaknesses. Usually you get this by branding an orc that looks green in wraith sense. However, you can also find intel on a board or table.
Wraith sense is a second kind of vision. Itās similar to night vision. You can see the shape and colors of orcs and other objects you can interact with. I used wraith vision a lot, thereās no limitation to it. Itās extremely helpful, because with normal vision, you canāt see the orcs for the structures and terrain, to put it one way. I relied on this so much that I was very disappointed that I wasn't able to use this with the second DLC character.
A difference in Shadow of War is that there are regions and fortresses within those regions. Your goal is to conquer and defend each region, so you have to build up your army. There are missions where you take on a fortress and try to conquer it and then others where you have to defend your fortress.
You can get new gear by killing captains. Each piece of gear will have a random quality and attributes, just like youād find in a Diablo game. You can upgrade them, too, but I think you can only do this a couple of times. Particularly, you can upgrade them by completing challenges. For instance, one piece of gear might tell you to kill 10 enemies with a bow. I didnāt upgrade all of my gear, because not all of the challenges were appealing to me or I thought they were more challenging that what I wanted to do. Also, there are sets of legendary gear and when you have more than one equipped, you get a bonus.
Speaking of Diablo and gear, there are also gems you can put in slots in every piece of gear. Each piece has one slot. There are three different colored gems that have a different attribute depending on what itās slotted in. You can combine gems to create a better one, which is great, because youāre often finding gems and it takes a while to get the final ones.
Here lies an issue I have, though. Thereās a currency in the game called mirian. At first, I felt like I had plenty. You get this by completing quests, destroying unwanted gear, or killing orcs that are white in wraith sense. Perhaps the most useful thing you can do with it is upgrading your orcs and fortresses. You can buy training orders with it, so you can level up your orcs, give them certain weapons, or other attributes. My main issue is that after youāve completed the story and other quests, even though you can still do a lot of things, itās hard to earn enough mirian to keep up with what I wanted. I wanted serious defenses on my fortresses, but I had to grind quite a bit just to afford them. Then it seemed as though those defenses really werenāt worth it (my entrance was always breached quickly).
There are online quests. You can send an orc into an online fighting pit or you can try to conquer an online regionās fortress. I didnāt do these, but I did take on online vendettas, which are for captains that have killed another player. If you decide to take on the mission, youāre apparently transported to another playerās world and are put into a captainās fort. Drawing out the captain is the same as drawing out a war chief in the offline part, you have to do something specific. One example is to kill 10 archers, or kill 10 enemies without raising the alarm. Once the alarm is rung, a whole lot more orcs spawn, which can quickly and constantly be overwhelming, so you want to avoid that. You can see an icon over the head of an orc running for the alarm.
I think at least two other captains will appear, so youāll have to find those green orcs in wraith sense to get intel about them, since you're in another world. If you brand and recruit any captain, theyāll be transported to your world and you can place them wherever you like. If you recruit the target captain instead of killing him, your mission is still a success and you will be rewarded. However, killing a captain gives a piece of gear, recruiting does not. Youāll still get gear as a reward for the mission anyway. Thereās always a chest with some gear for you at the end, plus youāll earn points towards a better chest, which will include free training orders (those upgrades I mentioned).
Stealth is a major part of the game and knowing that, I didnāt think Iād enjoy the games as much as I did. Itās why Iāve mostly avoided the Assassinās Creed games, because stealth isnāt my thing, but I enjoyed it so much in this series that Iām thinking of trying Assassinās Creed again. I forgot to also mention (though I mentioned in my Shadow of Mordor review), the combat is great. I used my Xbox One controller that I bought specifically for PC gaming, but you can also play with the keyboard and mouse. Combat is just like the Batman: Arkham series (theyāre both Warner Bros games, so I think this shouldnāt be a surprise). You attack with X and counter with Y. Other buttons have other functions, some have combos. I really love this combat style, so I was glad to see it here. I guess my anti-stealth thinking was a bit of a contradiction, because I loved those Batman games, but you had to be stealthy in them, too.
Branding orcs is fun and useful, but there are a couple of limitations to it. You cannot recruit a captain thatās a higher level than you are. The best way to do this, without having to level up, is to shame the captain, which will reduce his level and he will run away. You can then find him later and try to recruit him again. You can also decide to āfight to the death.ā The icon above an orcās head will turn green when heās ābroken." You can only brand broken creatures. Some orcs, however, have a trait that makes them unable to be recruited, in which case you may as well just kill them.
If youāve finished the main story, make sure you continue to do the remaining quests. What I mean, specifically, is make sure you control every region. This will show another cinematic, which explains Talionās true fate. This is very relevant in the first DLC. I think if you didnāt see that ātrue fateā cinematic, then the story in the first DLC will be confusing as itās a continuation of that.
The DLC allows you to play as two different characters, but they have their own little main story quest and don't do everything that was available to Talion. So, they're kind of like smaller, more limited versions of the main game. This didnāt bother me so much, but their abilities (or lack thereof) did. The first character you can play as is an elf that refuses to brand orcs. She makes up for this, though, by meeting orcs that are actually friendly towards her, one of which is obsessed with elves. While I thought that getting around her vow to not brand was greatly done, I was not at all a fan of her healing ability. Thatās because, in order to heal, you have to hold the Y button and then youāll heal over time (though it seemed to happen rather quickly). The problem with this is when youāre trying to heal and still being attacked by orcs, which gets interrupted if you get hit, plus you canāt counter while doing this either. So, if youāre close to dying, you pretty much have to run away far enough so that you can do it. Running away is really a key tip for these games, thereās no shame in it. It may be better to run away than let an orc level up by killing you. Anyway, her healing ability was frustrating. I did finish this DLCās story, but I didnāt do everything I could have done. By that time I had grown tired of the game and was ready to move on.
Healing is part of the reason I barely even played the second character DLC. Heās a mortal human and the only way he can heal is by using potions and he has a limited amount he can carry at a time. I think you start out with three, but can upgrade later. This is a problem, because you can often run out of them, even though dead orcs sometimes drop them. He also doesnāt have wraith sense. Also, instead of double jumping, he uses a parachute, which is kind of annoying since the other characters could fall at any height with no fall damage. I got surrounded by orcs and the captains had shields, which made it harder to fight them, especially since some of them had immunity to acrobatics, which means you canāt jump over them and hit them in the back like regular orcs with shields. I had a body guard, but this was not a challenge I was interested in. Because of all of this, I gave up on the last DLC and thus the game.
I ran into other problems. I had a problem where my controller was disconnecting. It seemed like if I moved slightly it would disconnect, but Iāve been using my controller for the last few games Iāve played and itās never had this problem. Itās a USB controller and I thought maybe I just need a new USB cable. Someone on the Internet suggested using Big Picture view in Steam, which I donāt like, but using it seemed to have resolved the issue. Another problem is that the game crashes sometimes. Itās not obvious, itās just that it looks like itās taking forever to load and loading times were pretty non-existent for me, possibly because Iām running off of a NVMe SSD now. But, when I noticed these long load times, I just went to Task Manager and stopped the game. This didnāt happen too frequently, but enough to be annoying.
I gave Shadow of Mordor an outstanding review, but I canāt do the same for Shadow of War. This game is in a lot of ways better than the first. It improves on many things and I think thereās plenty to do in itās open world. However, even though the game play was addictive at first, it got old after a while. I still strongly recommend both games, but this second one had some setbacks I didnāt experience with the first. It reminds me of programming, the more features you add, the easier it is to create more bugs.
Let me know what you think about all this. Have you played these games? What did you think about them or do they look like something youād be interested in? (I'm glad I proofread this multiple times!)
My Shadow of Mordor review: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4670/a-spoiler-free-review-of-middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor
This sounds very cool. I never finished Shadow of Mordor, but I enjoyed that game a lot. Now building on that gameplay sounds awesome!
Yeah, Shadow of War is a bit of an upgrade, there's more to do. I spent almost 73 hours in Shadow of Mordor and 99 in Shadow of War. I enjoyed it. I even decided to re-watch the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies. Shadow of Mordor got me addicted to the game play and I loved continuing it in Shadow of War, but Shadow of War had a few issues. If you read this review, good for you and thank you. I know it's very long and I didn't format it nicely.
These games are now more relevant due to LotR: Rings of Power on Amazon. Celebrimbor is a main character, so I'm very familiar with him. I'm so glad to see him in the flesh (pun intended!). The show is great and now I want to replay these games.
So, Neo and Trinity are back, but they don't know each other. Neo (Thomas) is seeing a therapist played by Neil Patrick Harris, because he's having weird dreams and thinks he's crazy. Jada Pinkett Smith returns as Niobe, who you might remember in the sequels. It... Read All The trailer for The Matrix Resurrections is finally out and the movie will be released in theaters and HBO Max on 12/22/21. The trailer says "this Christmas" and my first thought was that is a bad idea, because Spider-Man: No Way Home comes out on Christmas and I wouldn't bet on anything getting as much attention. That's not to say The Matrix is bad, it's great in fact, but...well I'm sure you understand.
So, Neo and Trinity are back, but they don't know each other. Neo (Thomas) is seeing a therapist played by Neil Patrick Harris, because he's having weird dreams and thinks he's crazy. Jada Pinkett Smith returns as Niobe, who you might remember in the sequels. It *looks* like Morpheus is back, but is played by another guy. It looks like this might be a younger version of himself (according to the link below). Hugo Weaving will also not return and I'm disappointed both actors will not be returning.
I found a link with some more details, especially about the actors. You can check it out here:
https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a29498105/the-matrix-4-cast-release-date-plot-trailer-keanu-reeves-news/
I'm looking forward to seeing it, I've loved The Matrix movies since they came out. I'm also extremely fond of The Animatrix and if you haven't seen it, but are a fan of The Matrix, you should. As it sounds, it's anime Matrix stories. Some aren't really relevant to the overall story, but a few of them are significantly related. IMHO the best ones give us the backstory of how the Matrix was created and it's very interesting and disturbing. I loved the soundtrack as well.
I'm glad it seems this is coming to HBO Max the same day as theaters. The one great thing about COVID is that it created a significant boost to streaming services like HBO Max and Disney+. Those services have started showing movies when they release and I really love it. I think it's incredibly responsible, especially since we're currently dealing with the more contagious Delta variant and even vaccinated people are getting sick (but not mortally so). I prefer to watch something in the privacy of my own room. I did go see Shang-Chi, so obviously I've decided to go anyway, since not all movies I want to watch are streamed right away.
Let me know what you think about this. Are you a fan of The Matrix? What did you think of the trilogy? Have you seen The Animatrix? I've got a little more to say, but I might wait and put it in the comments.
> Let me know what you think about this.
Looks like a visually and stylistically fresh take on The Matrix. It's not too modern, but modern enough. I'm going to see this for sure.
That said, I have no idea what this is beyond The Matrix again?
> Are you a fan of The Matrix?
Yeah, very much. Re-watched the trilogy a few months ago.
> What did you think of the trilogy?
The first movie is a massive cultural milestone. It has a bit of "90's goof" but I love camp so it's awesome. I used to really _HATE_ the sequels but recently I've come around on that and find them to be pretty good. I agree with some recent takes on the sequels, they should be viewed as one complete film as they were shot back to back and really are.
> Have you seen The Animatrix?
Many times. I'd rate it the second best Matrix movie.
I think it looks "modern," but maybe I don't understand your definition. Yeah, this does seem like "The Matrix again." Remember (spoilers!) Neo formed a truce with the machines and gave up his body. We see images of that in this trailer. It also seems as though someone is watching The Matrix via screen projection.
I don't know about "90's goof," I never felt that, but I really enjoyed it. I didn't hate the sequels, but it seems sequels never live up to the original. The movies are a true sequential trilogy, though.
I'm massively impressed you've seen and loved The Animatrix! I don't know of anyone else that has seen it.
One thing I wanted to note is that I love Neil Patrick Harris's glasses (obviously, because they're blue!). However, I came to believe they're specifically blue. This wasn't some random color the costume designers chose, they're blue as in "blue pill." I think that's real fitting (and an original thought). The blue pills make a seriously obvious come back, but we do later get to see the choice to be made again (red vs. blue).
Thanks for posting this reply, because I just posted my Shadow of War review and it looks like it pushed this down. I wanted this to have the attention, because I'm sure others here want to see this, too.
I really loved the first matrix. I thought the other two were fun, but donāt remember much from them. I have watched some of the animatrix if not all.
This trailer slaps and kind of makes me want to see it in the theater.
I agree with everything Will has said here lol. Loved the first, the sequels were fun, but not great, and I'm familiar with the Animatrix, but still need to sit down and watch all of it.
And the trailer looks amazing. I have a feeling we're going to go into the movie thinking it's soft reboot, and they're going to subvert expectations very satisfyingly. š
I never disliked the Matrix sequels but they werenāt what I expected at the time. My rewatches were always better than the first time seeing them in theaters.
The Matrix was my favorite film for a while, it was the first DVD I bought when I got a DVD rom for my PC.
In a lot of ways I think the animatrix and the video game between Reloaded and Revelations are required to really feel like you have a full understanding of what the whole world is all about, which is great for people who dive into all of that but not for those who didnāt. For example I only found out this week that Morpheus is canonically dead because of the events of the Matrix Online, and the Wachowski sisters consider that fully part of canon.
Though it seems like in this revision of the Matrix, Yahyaās character is a new Morpheus.
Anyway yes I am super into this trailer and I hope covid has died down enough by late December so I can see this in theaters. But either way Iām watching it many times Iām sure.
Yay, Travis finally spoke up! I was waiting for that! :) I remember when we were college roommates. In my memory, I still have an image of seeing that Matrix DVD and I remember us watching it, maybe at least once. I don't recall if I saw it in theaters, but I think maybe so. I had already graduated high school by the time it came out and was in community college.
I don't recall a "Matrix Online" though I've recently seen that it existed. I think the one I was familiar with was Enter the Matrix, which I'm sure I saw in the database here. I think I remember it came out on all three consoles at the time; GameCube, XBox, and PS2 (I still have all three). I specifically remember seeing it for the GameCube. I don't recall if I played it though. I may have played a little bit of it, but not enough to get any story out of it. I seem to remember Niobe.
That's odd that Morpheus is canonically dead, because of the the events of The Matrix Online. I guess that's a bit of the Matrix lore I missed out on. And yes, it's been confirmed Yahya is indeed playing a younger version of Morpheus, if his style wasn't obvious enough. He confirmed it on Twitter.
Once again, New Rockstars (on YouTube) has a great trailer breakdown and analysis.
Yeah I played Enter the Matrix back in the day and loved it. Gameplay was⦠basically just ok but the story was great. You remember correctly, Niobe was a big part.
Thinking about playing it again if I can get it to run on modern hardware
Cool, man! I was about to ask about "modern hardware," but I decided to Google my question, I didn't know it's also a PC game. I'm just not sure where to buy it, I don't see it on Steam, not that that's the only place to buy games...
I think it was only sold physically and then basically forgotten. I still have my discs from back in the day
I have Enter the Matrix on the original Xbox. My guess is Atari didn't keep the license so they no longer can release it.
Oh, cool! I have an XBox, but the only game I have for it is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Looks like it averages around $6 used in box: https://www.pricecharting.com/game/xbox/enter-the-matrix
That sounds good! There's a site I've never heard of before, too!
New trailer! This one looks very interesting as it shows the parallels between this and the first movie. It talks about making "copies" and deja vu, "it happens when they change something." This month is an awesome month for movies! It looks like I'll be going twice this month. The last time I saw two movies in the same month was probably decades ago. Check it out: https://youtu.be/IgYs_NDyaLs
I hope the movie starts with the end of 3, and the matrix physically reboots itself. Maybe put a boot up screen for credits, and then we start with this reboot!
Awesome ideas!
Here's a new trailer: https://youtu.be/nNpvWBuTfrc
Looks like Matrix is borrowing from MST3K in the new movie and providing commentary on the old movie. I hope for a lot of funny!
Everyone lives in the shadow of Mystery Science Theater 3000 š¤£
Thank goodness this movie is streaming, because my theater isn't playing it. They're only playing Spider-Man: No Way Home and Encanto, the latter is one I know nothing of. I can't blame them for continuing to play Spider-Man: No Way Home. That was without a doubt the best movie of the year, maybe even the best Spider-Man movie ever!
Yeah I'm glad it's streaming because I feel like it launched right at the window where I no longer want to go to the theater anymore. We were planning to go see this and Spider-Man next week in theaters but covid is at peak levels in VA now, back like it was last January before the vaccines were really available. And this damn hypercontagious omicron variant seems to be able to defeat a lot of defenses.
I think the best word to describe this movie is "meta" (and I don't mean that new Facebook company). I enjoyed it. If you're a Matrix fan, I don't think you should pass this up.
Agreed, it's quite meta. At first it was a bit much and I was wondering how meta or how deep the rabbit hole would go. In fact, the movie doesn't even quite know then they sort of answer everything and it loses a bit of the magic. That said, it's a great film I just wished it sort of broke out of the Matrix and did a huge left turn but in the end it didn't and I'm actually really happy with what we got.
That post credit scene wasn't great. Honestly felt like they could have done better there.
It was a movie that we didnāt need, it didnāt really add anything to the Matrix lore or anything like that, but it was fun and something I imagine Iāll rewatch. Lana Wachowski said this was a catharsis for her, kinda going back to a comfort project to help her deal with some things in life, and it shows. Itās definitely a comfort movie.
There are no plans for this to be the start of a new trilogy but Iād kinda like to see that.