Okay fellow PS3 owners, lets all be honest for a moment and admit Home was a stupid idea from the get go. We're grown ups and we don't play dress up with our dollies anymore, and even when we do, we don't want to pay Sony 50? per clothing options.

Furthermore, we don't need Sony to remind us that our real-life apartments are cramped, poorly color coordinated, and not privy to glorious waterfront views. While Sony's virtual furniture is dramatically cheaper, we should still prefer the items from Target and Ikea. At least we can burn those for heat and anger.

Even still there are at least 3 things I would consider paying for, if they were added to the Home experience... and here they are:

1. The ability to gun down other player's avatars. (preferably with a Drake's Fortune like cover system)

2. A jump button. (so I may perform stunts with my virtual furniture)

3. Virtual Strippers and the ability to become a virtual stripper. (perhaps involving some sort of mentoring program sponsored by red bull)

Simple pleasures, maybe. So tell me what you'd do instead :-)

The next episode of Inside The Box is up, featuring Collateral Damage, an Anime Board Game.



YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJSmoc-AGiM

BlipTV: http://thescarletspider.blip.tv/file/1550430/

Prince of Perisa's hits store shelves this week and what better way to celebrate than building some paper craft? Specifically, paper craft featuring a scene you are likely to get really used to while playing the game: falling to your doom, only to be saved by your companion's outstretched hand.

I give you: Prince of Paper!

Image courtesy Jalopnik

Actor, car salesman, and genetically engineered super villain Ricardo Montalban was born on this day, November 25th 88 years ago. ...Or perhaps his life started with Star Trek's second movie, released in 1982. ...Or even, when Khan was genetically engineered in the mid 1990s to dominate us in the eugenics wars.

Whichever, the crew of the Apex congratulates him on his life and successful career. (which recently culminated with an appearance on Family Guy, as a cow)

This weeks interview is with a composer, Edward Douglas, who creates music for Dungeons & Dragons playing as well as some scary scores.



YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/InsideTheBoxSeries

BlipTV: http://thescarletspider.blip.tv/

While not a dilithium breathing Trekkie, I am programed to enjoy the Star Trek franchise. Unfortunately, the past 2 tv serieses and 3 movies were painfully bad. So when I finally saw JJ Abrams' revision in-motion, I was not without my skepticism.

The Good
Star Trek appears to be an action flick, with some attention to choreography. This feat alone elevates the redux above the previous 3 movies, which featured laughably awful combat in both ship-to-ship and soldier-to-soldier sequences.

This is in no small part due to the new cast, who are young and free to act macho in every way Patrick Stuart shouldn't have in Nemesis. Zachary Quinto should be particularly entertaining as Spock, down to cutting the tops of peoples heads open to gain their powers. (or just throwing Chris Pine around the bridge)

Worst case scenario: the pretty computer graphics, chrome finish on the bridge, and the running around will keep me distracted, if not outright excited.

The Bad
Though do not begrudge rewriting canon, I am happier when the new material is better than the old. Shinozon and the space vampire Remans of Nemesis are a perfect example of this: they were bland. cliche, out of place, and made the Romulans less cool by extension. So I'm very concerned that Eric Banana's Nero will retread that ground. Tribal bird tattoos on his face? Really?

Humor is also a recurring problem for the franchise. Specifically the cliche and/or idiotic one liners that Data produces on demand. It's only there for a second, but the trailer implied Simon Pegg's Scotty may renew this tendency.

The Indifferent
The new ship designs, sets, and costumes haven't really meant anything to me. They aren't bad, but they also don't reenergize the source material's cool factor the way Optomus Prime did in Abram's Transformers remake.

All joking aside, I'm marginally interested to see this film, which is probably the best result Abrams could have achieved. Maybe I'll even enjoy it, provided I keep my expectations low enough...