Gamertell

Title: Bleach Uncut Season 2: The Entry box set
Price: $39.99 (Amazon) - $80.99 (Barnes & Noble)
Format: DVD
Release Date: August 19, 2008
Company: Viz Media
ESRB Rating: Unrated
Pros: Episodes 21-41 uncut, English and Japanese voice tracks, English subtitles, production art, mini-poster, Ichigo sticker
Cons: Only basic extra features
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 90/100, A-, **** 1/2 out of 5.

The second season of Bleach is arguably one of the best in the run of the series. While the first season,”The Substitute,” sets up the story for viewers and acts as an origin tale for the hero that is Ichigo Kurosaki, the second season, “The Entry,” gives viewers the opportunity to see what Ichigo is capable of and up against.

The best way to experience this, to understand the mechanics of the Soul Society and Soul Reapers, is to watch the uncut DVD box set in Japanese with English subtitles. Even though Viz Media has cast capable voice actors to give life to all of the characters, the introduction and personalities of the various Soul Reaper captains and vice captains are better captured by the original Japanese voice actors. Since Viz Media has also done a great job with translating for the subtitles, the DVD set is a joy to watch either way…

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Title: Birds of Prey: The Complete Series
Price: $29.95
Release Date: July 15, 2008
Publisher: Warner Bros. Television
Rating: Not Rated
Pros: The transfer is perfect and the addition of the entire web series, Gotham Girls, is terrific. A bit more palatable than when it originally aired thanks to Smallville.
Cons: The series remains as fault-filed as ever with some weak performances and some cheesy special effects.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 80/100; B-; * * * out of five.

With the recent resurgence of Bat-Mania thanks to the gritty and good Dark Knight movie, it’s a little surprising that Birds of Prey DVD release didn’t get a little more attention. Sure, the series didn’t quite make a full season but the relation to the Caped Crusader is unmistakable.

Click through for the full review…

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Japan isn’t the only country receiving exceptionally pretty, limited run DSes. Nintendo has just announced that, on August 17, 2008, a Limited Edition DS Pokemon Pack will be available in stores. The pack includes an etched, black DS lite and additional Pokemon items for $129.99.

The selling point of the package is the black DS lite with pictures Dialga and Palkia, two legendary pokemon from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl etched on the front of it. It also comes with a matching DS lite case that has the same design on the cover, a mini poster and a DVD with an animated movie called Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness. Nintendo has declared the bundle a limited edition, but there is no word on how many units are being produced or how long it will be sold.

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Title: Freakazoid! Season One DVD (aka Steven Spielberg Presents Freakazoid! Season One DVD)
Price: $22.95
Release Date: July 29, 2008
Publisher: Warner Bros. (Amblin Entertainment)
Pros: Wacky super-hero humor that stands up well to the internet generation. Great art, plenty of fun references, lots of classic homages and good transfer quality.
Cons: Not a lot of extras and still mis-marketed toward kids. A few very short segments have gritty transfers.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

Screw spiders, crazy experiments and crash landings. It’s the power of the internet, man.

Relatively early in the mass-appear years of the world wide web, a group of animators had the foresight to create a super hero endowed the with intelligence, mysterious powers and grand sarcasm of the internet.

Due to poor scheduling and being mistakenly marketed towards kids, Freakazoid!‘s quick wit and outrageous (and often incongruous) humor only lasted two seasons. Fortunately for us fans, the first season of the series has finally been released on DVD (two discs, one box) so you can enjoy it over and over and over and again and over again until, of course, you completely freak out. In a good way…

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At any given moment, there are countless numbers of game-related videos that you could be watching. However, very few live-action re-enactments of games are very good - or even very entertaining - at all, but Patrick Klepek from MTV’s multiplayer blog has just posted one of the coolest I’ve ever seen. Presented as an example of a “sweded” (that is, a sort of fan-made video with exceedingly low production values, from the film Be Kind Rewind) version of Jet Grind Radio, the video shows a teenage Klepek emulating the game’s Rollerblade-and-graffiti goodness.

It’s spot-on, complete with all the little touches like costumes and sound effects right out of the game. I hope Klepek rolls out a few more hidden gems like this in the future. Click the link below to check it out.

Read [MTV Multiplayer]

Title: Gamers (aka Gamers: The Movie)
Price: $24.95 (DVD)
Release Date: May 6, 2008
Distributer: Monterey Media, Inc.
Rating: Unrated
Pros: A good mix of both subtle and outrageous humor with engaging characters. Surprisingly well made and funny or an indie film produced in six days.
Cons: Starts a little sluggish and goes a little odd with a couple gags.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five

Screw the lame-ass box art. Gamers is a great indie flick that will make anyone who has ever rolled something other than a 6-sided die snarf milk all over their mother’s teak coffee table.

Click through for the full review…

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