Video Games Live Kuala Lumpur 2012

Video Games Live had a concert at Istana Budaya on both Saturday and Sunday night, and after having a great time at the last concert way back in 2010, I managed to convince a few fellow gamer friends to come along with me.

And it was gloriously fun.

At its core, Video Games Live is basically a concert started by Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, that celebrates video game music performed by a live orchestra with video game footage and synchronized lighting and effects.

It's always hosted by Tommy Tallarico, who is a fantastic musician and excellent host, he always manages to entertain the audiences with his jokes, although I did notice that he reused a few jokes from the last concert.

But it doesn't matter, he really, REALLY knows how to rile up the audiences and get us all excited for any song.

Only at VGL, can they turn a Tetris Opera into something EPIC and AWESOME.

Quite a number of songs played were new, while some of the songs from the previous concert were used again, notably the Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross medley, Halo, Shadow of the Collosus, Castlevania, and my favorite (thanks to VGL 2010) is Snake Eater from Metal Gear Solid, partly because just like the last time, they managed to get FUCKING NORIHIKO HIBINO all the way from Japan to play this song!!

That man is a god on the saxophone.

The new songs that were played here included Mass Effect, Starcraft II, Lament of the Highborne from World of Warcraft, Liberi Fatali from Final Fantasy VIII, Pokemon (which according to Tommy Tallarico, was one of the most highly requested ever), a Mario medley and a Zelda medley (both performed by the lovely Laura Intravia aka Flute Link).

They also played music from Assassin's Creed II, but they played it with the cutscene with the sound effects and dialogue intact, which made it all the more awesome.

This cutscene to be exact.

They had a few interactive segments as well: two members from the audience got to play Frogger onstage; a Guitar Hero segment playing Foo Fighter's The Pretender and at the start of the show, there was a short cosplay competion featuring Frank West in his Lego head, Ghost (Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2), Tron, NCR guard (Fallout: New Vegas), Zero (Megaman Legends I think) and the Pyro (Team Fortress 2), however it was damn obvious who was going to win. The guy, or girl, who dressed up as the Pyro stayed in character through and through, eventually got the most cheers from us and won.

The concert ended surprisingly with Portal's Still Alive, but drove the crowd completely crazy. And we all got to sing along with the lyrics appearing on screen.

Shh....

Too bad they didn't play One Winged Angel (Final Fantasy VII) or the theme from Max Payne, that would've really made my night.

It was a great time.

This is one of those times that make me feel like I'm part of a great gamer community. The first concert took me by surprise, that there were so many gamers, just like me, excited over the prospect of having the chance to listen to their favorite video game music brought to life by a full orchestra.

So many gamers, just united by a single passion.

For just one night in Istana Budaya, we were all just gamers engulfed in joy.

Looking at this pic, brings me tears of joy, that there are that many people, just like me, who just love games.

Thank you Video Games Live, for a wonderful night.

I hope to see you guys again next year.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!!

I just can't get enough of this movie. It was so awesome that I've already watched it three times.

And I was still excited watching it during the 2nd and 3rd watchings.

It really is that fucking awesome.

Sheer awesomeness personified

Where do we begin...

Steve Rogers/Captain America:

New uniform, though the helmet looks abit goofier than the one he wore in his debut movie weirdly enough.

He's still trying to fit into the new century after spending time as a "Capsicle", and I think he's still trying to, but he is getting better.

Awesome leader as usual, provides a good contrast to Tony Stark/Iron Man. Also showing the world that he can kick ass with or without his shield.

Tony Stark/Iron Man:

Shows more character development than the rest of the team, accepting what it means to be part of a team and the sacrifices required.

And as usual, Robert Downey Jr. gets the wittiest and best dialogue. Every scene with him is a awesome/funny moment.

He also shows off his new Iron Man Armor Mark VII (I think).

Bruce Banner/Hulk:

Mark Ruffalo replaces Edward Norton in this movie, after negotiations between Marvel Studios and Norton broke down. But no matter, Mark Ruffalo plays this role marvellously (hehe).

He is surprisingly snarky and sarcastic here, and this movie shows how far and how much Bruce Banner has grown to accept the Hulk as part of who he is.




Thor Odinson:

Thor gets some of the best action scenes here, squaring off against almost everyone here: Captain America and Iron Man, mano-a-mano against Hulk, Loki, and plenty of Chitauri cannon fodder soldiers.

As a character, Thor has embraced the maturity and responsibility he learnt from his debut movie and its very heartwarming to see him just being so mature, signifying the excellent development he gone through.

Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow:

Scarlett Johansson's extreme hotness in a catsuit aside, she plays this role extremely well and gets a lot of screentime. She shows that she is no mere mortal in this movie and fights with the rest of the big boys as well as anyone of them.

C'mon, at least Hawkeye has god-like archery skills, Black Widow kicks ass using her wrist zappers, martial arts and handguns. She survived a blow from THE HULK!!!

An excellent way to introduce Black Widow to the mainstream audiences.

Clint Barton/Hawkeye:

Finally, Hawkeye gets the exposure that he so severely lacks in the Marvel universe. Hawkeye has been around for so many years, but he's very well below the radar when it comes to sheer popularity.

Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, The Avengers does not expand much on Hawkeye himself, which is a shame, considering that every scene Hawkeye is in is pure awesome sauce. And also slightly mind bogglingly impossible arrow shots.

Jeremy Renner is also a perfect fit as the confident Hawkeye despite the short screentime that he has. After The Hurt Locker and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, it seems Jeremy Renner is well on his way on becoming a superstar.

Here's hoping that he will get his own spin off movie with Black Widow.

Loki:

The big bad of this movie, Tom Hiddleston reprises his role of Loki from the Thor movie, and boy is he a delight to watch.

He really pulls off the demented and evil character that Loki has become since his downfall in Thor. Even in his first appearance, that slasher smile of his is...truly unsettling.

With delusions of godhood and the arrogance to match it, Loki brought about the Chitauri army in order to conquer it, but he has to use the Tessarect/Cosmic Cube to open a portal for them to cross over and wreck havoc.


Other characters also make their appearance: Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as the badass Nick Fury, Stellan Skarsgård as Doctor Erik Selvig, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts briefly and my favorite new character, Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson (he's also a fanboy of Captain America =D apparently).
A new character was introduced in The Avengers: Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, who also shined pretty well when the action called for it.

Honestly, the story is nothing great: "Loki is threatening to bring war to Earth and the Avengers have to get their shit together to work as a team to stop him" pretty much sums it up.

But Joss Whedon, with his magic hands, has managed to give humanity, humor and development to everyone without concentrating on any single character too much. This movie is very well balanced and there is honestly never a single dull moment.

Joss Whedon also manages to make everyone just freaking awesome and memorable. There is one particular scene where Loki has forced a large group of people to kneel in front of him, playing to his God complex.

Watch out for this scene.

Loki, being his ego-maniacal self, starts giving a speech about how humans crave subjugation and he will be the one who will give them that pleasure.

Then, this old man slowly stands up, turns and tells Loki, "Not to men like you."

Loki replies, "But there are no men like me."

The old man just says, "There will ALWAYS be men like you."

Holy shit.

It was a very simple scene, with very simple words, but the force behind those words are worth entire speeches and entire scenes made in lesser movies. And they probably have less impact.

And the action scenes. My god, the glorious action scenes.

For the first 2 hours of the movie, you get a few incredibly cool fight scenes between various characters.

And then, in the last half hour, the Chitauri come in full force.

Only the Avengers stand in their way and they fight.


That last half hour was worth all the other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies put together, multiplied by two.

It honestly is that freaking awesome.

Watching this scene gave me goosebumps every single time.

It was like a childhood dream for me coming true, seeing the greatest comic book superhero team of all time on the silver screen.

This movie generated so much hype it was mind boggling, the cinemas I went to had to put up notices that a few of the slots were completely sold out.

Very few movies ever actually surpass that hype, much less live up to it.

The Avengers. Is. THAT. AWESOME.

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I'm pretty sure by now, or even before reading this, that The Avengers has garnered alot of positive reviews from everywhere.

Sure, it has it flaws, but those flaws just seem so insignificant when you watch it.

A movie to bring together some of the most popular superheroes of all time was deemed almost impossible a decade ago. The fact that Marvel Studios is attempting to create their own cinematic universe is a bold move, it can easily fail and screw up like Squaresoft's Square Pictures (Final Fantasy: Spirits Within for those not in the know).

But looking at this, there is no doubt that the plans for the Marvel Cinematic Universe will only expand and perhaps bring more exposure their characters.

I was honestly quite afraid that the movie will not live up to the hype it generated.

Oh how me of little faith.

The Dark Knight Rises is going to have one hell of a competition this year. Good luck, Nolan.

And thank you, Joss Whedon, for making this movie.

AVENGERS!! ASSEMBLE!!!