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Arts&entertainment Vampire Rain Microsoft X-Box 360 If there is one mythical group I'm quite tired of seeing in popular culture, it is vampires. Barely inching out zombies as most overexposed monster characters of all time, vampires are certainly living up to their immortal name as they never seem to go away. Whether in MTV's 2007 Video Music Awards was one show to be remembered Bj Randace Williams Staff Writer kwilli2o@iny.westga.eilu I laughed. You laughed, and somewhere Kevin Federline probably did too. MTV promoted that the comeback performance of Pop Princess. Britney Spears, at the 2007 Video Music Awards would be one of the most talked about. And it was. but for all the wrong reasons. Spears opened the show with her new single “Gimme More’’. The former Pop Princess looked very unprepared while she walked through dance moves with little enthusiasm. She also appeared to have forgotten the how to lip-sync. She stopped moving her mouth while the background track still played. The celebrity audience UWG Art department welcomes artist Brian Bishop By Fontez Brooks Staff Writer J'ul ritl% I @m\.westga .edit "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” but there is nothing cliche about West Georgia’s current exhibition featuring the work of Brian Bishop. A teacher and a painter, Bishop's ■ ■- 1 D, | fl .bbepK /'* I K - ~?U '• > l •<- ’ ' * t . t. 4 ill m ’'■ jdj Imi v 2 E’7 . f ,# Mg#. " HHHf | * w%b 9BHBHH * „. tt "v # jli, 1 " • ‘Sb f MSB B^&iiiPSgE jf aj... ..-fcL_ 1 S HJ- - B BBj I *ohjk ■ gmte&LmL ' yj 9HB snra hlt s*f- ■ PAofo bv Kimberly Hahn PnotoT^imbeO^ahn novels (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), movies (Blade, Underworld. The Lost Boys), comic books (30 Days of Night),ortelevision shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), no form of media entertainment is safe. Not even video games. While last week’s BioShock review was an example of how great an X-Box 360 game can be. unfortunately this week's is about how bad one can be. And that's not my vampire biasness talking either. And there is no mistake to be made that Vampire Rain, horrible Sci- Fi channel movie title and all, is one of the worst X- Box 360 games around. The game takes place in current day Los Angeles as a war between vampires, known as “Nightwalkers", and an elite taskforce wages watched Spears in disbelief. 50 Cent appeared to be confused. Chris Brown appeared to not to be impressed. It seemed that the performance did not hold Rihanna's attention. And Kid Rock's and Diddy's face was expressionless. Despite the horrible start, the VMA’s were able to bounce back. The award show had many star studded performances, but majority of these performances took place in suite parties. These parties were hosted by Kanye West. Fall Out Boy, the F(x> Fighters, and Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. They all held separate parties that had different themes. Some of the performances that tcxik place in the suites were delivered to the audience in snippets. Cee-Lo delivered a rocking version of Prince's naughty work is the epitome of detail. Using nothing but charcoal pencils. Bishop captures simple moments in everyday life and recreates them on canvas to such a degree that they actually seem real. There is no line drawn on the canvas that was not already predetermined by Bishop. for population control. Players assume the role of John Lloyd, a lone survivor of previous Nightwalker attacks,as he aids his fellow taskforce members against the bkxxlthirsty creatures. On Lloyd’s side, three generic squad mates are provided to keep the laughable conversations and dull story moving. A big surprise is that these members actually have names, as they could have easily been lumped into any sidekick genre for faster reference. Such genres include: the silent one, the spunky one. the one that's adept at computers and high-tech gear, and so on. Once intnxluced to the other members of the team that become a constant source of simple requests and idiotic ideas throughout the game, the game really starts to flounder. By steal i ng ideas from classics such as Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid and capitalizing on none. Vampire Rain has managed to create its own horrific world of 3rd person classic “Darling Nikki" in the Foo Fighters suite; Soulja Boy was showing Kanye West how to "Crank That (Soulja Boy)” dance in West's suite. Akon song a bit of his “Smack That" and w *-' N ' J s• a %j Photo courtesy of wwwjntv.com the cameras ziximed in on performances from Fall Out Boy (“Thnks Fr Th Muirs”) and the Foo Fighters (“The Pretender”) mid-performance in their suites. What separates his work from others is size. Each drawing is a staggering five square feet, which Bishop says is “too make them confrontational and also making them harder to ignore.” The scale of the drawings makes the on-looker double take and at least wonder sneak and attack gameplay. While basic controls for stealthily moving and hiding throughout levels are surprisingly responsive, other basic ideas that previous games have implemented with great success, such as shcxrting around comers and taking potshots, are strangely absent. Regardless of the obvious omissions, controls are unfortunately the last decent thing gamers w ill experience in Vampire Rain. I'he biggest problem with the game is its unforgiving difficulty. Even on normal difficulty, the game tosses players to the wolves, i.e. vampires, right out of the gate where they will be mercilessly slaughtered countless times in frustration. One would think that an elite taskforce with specialized weapons for fighting vampires would fare better, but once a vampire has spotted players, it is pretty much game over in two swings. And vampires will Timberlake and Timbaland’s , Southern Hospitality Part) looked like the most exciting. T. 1.. surrounded by pole dancers, performed “Big Things Poppin’” and 50 Cent stopped by to perform "Ayo Technology” withTimberlake and Timbal and. Kanye West’s suite didn't lcxik too bad either. He performed, "The Good why this seemingly mundane moment in life is blown up to this degree. When standing directly in front of these pieces, they take up the admirer’s entire line of vision, giving each drawing nothing but attention, which Bishop says is very important to him. What is also of spot players...over and over. When players least suspect it, possibly hiding behind a dumpster and feeling mighty secured, a pair of horribly cheesy eyes will flash on the screen to let the player know that they’ve been spotted and death will surely ensue. Don’t even think about running or hiding elsewhere, as the simplistic AI of the vampire will not allow the enemy to rest until he or she has utterly dismantled John Lloyd. The ironic part of the vampires’ omnipotent clairvoyance is when a character alludes to the constant rain that takes place in the game as having a dampening effect on vampires’ five senses. This apparently makes it harder for the squad to be noticed by enemies, but b- ng spotted 1(X) yards v hiding behind a telej pole isn’t my idea ol a hindered sense of sight. While the game tries to do some things right, like using the superior Life.” with T-Pain on one of the Palms’ (Casino Resort's) balcony suites. R&B star Chris Brown performed on the main stage. Brown gave one of the evening's most memorable performances. He performed a melody of songs with Rihanna later joining him to do this summer's smash hit “Umbrella”. Alicia Keys also performed her new single on the main stage. But during her performance, and not shown to the television audience, a fight between Kid Rock and Tommy Lee broke out. Diddy spoke on camera about the scuffle, "It’s not just the hip hop artist w ho sometimes have problems.” Attention soon turned from the fight and back to the show, when Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, and Timbaland closed great importance to him is that whoever has the pleasure of looking at his masterpieces not only looks, but thinks. By titling every piece “Untitled,” he hopes to leave the grounds open for interpretation. “1 only want to offer a hint, a clue ... and leave the rest for the on looker to make up his or Itt over the shoulder aiming scheme, the game just can’t execute on its own strengths enough. Even with the addition of a somewhat in depth multiplayer mode, the chances of actually finding anyone who owns or is playing the game are slim to none. Overall, Vampire Rain is a complete and utter failure at entertaining players and once again proves that adding vampires into any form of media is just asking for a mediocre product to result from it. I would say the game sucks, but 1 think that joke is a bit too obvious w ith the subject matter and all. And the last thing vampires need is more publicity. Watt*is l{;ttin<* (out of 10) the show with a melody, including Furtado’s new single “Do It”, Timbaland’s single “The Way I Are". JT’s “Love Stoned”, and all three coming together to perform a part of “Give it to Me”. The night wasn't just about drama and performances, awards were also given out. Justin Timberlake wits the night’s big winner, with four trophies, including Male Artist of the Year and Quadruple Threat of the Year. Rihanna also won big awards that night. “Umbrella” won her the covenant Video of the Year Award as well as Monster Single of the Year. Other winners included Fergie for Female of the Year Award, Fall Out Boy for Best Group, and Gym Class Heroes for Best New Artist. For a complete list of winners goto wwwjntv.com. her own minds,” Bishop said. This is why he decided to title the showing, “Reflection,” giving every spectator a chance to reflect as he or she browses through an array of drawings. Bishop’s work is up for display in the humanities building until Oct. 5 in the main gallery.