Rise Against - Make It Stop (September's Children)

Rise Against have just released the video for Make It Stop (September's Children) from their latest album Endgame, battling the simply idiotic idea of homophobia and concerning the number of suicides of GBLT teens last September. The video centres around three homosexual teenagers and the bullying they're forced to endure, before each finally snaps and prepares each of their own suicides. However, they come to realise they still have a future (in amongst numerous clips from the 'It Gets Better' campaign and the names of the teenagers who took their lives last year) and stop before it's too late.

As I have come to expect from Rise Against, this video was simply brilliant, tackling a common and sometimes controversial issue perfectly. The message of this song is perhaps best portrayed in the lines "Too much blood has flown from the wrists, of the children shamed for those they chose to kiss" and it's such powerful songs as this that are why Rise Against are perhaps my all-time favourite band, rarely disappointing me. I'll be recommending this video to absolutely everyone I know, not only for the message, but for the song as well.

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/

Many LGBT youth can't picture what their lives might be like as openly gay adults. They can't imagine a future for themselves. So let's show them what our lives are like, let's show them what the future may hold in store for them.

Dead Island - E3 Trailer

The latest trailer for Dead Island is out, and it sure as hell has worked to get me excited. It starts off with what seems to be one of the protagonists stumbling around the resort drunk, before the zombie outbreak suddenly hits. He then wakes up, hungover, to discover chaos. The trailer then goes on to show several clips of gameplay, showing off some of the weapons you can use. With it's incredible announcement trailer and now the two further ones showing off gameplay, I will be very shocked if this game does not sell well, and extremely disappointed if it turns out not to be very good.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 E3 2011 Trailer

The third trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2 has been released at E3, featuring even more gameplay and cinematics, and showing some more of the battle system, which appears to be basically the same but with the inclusion of quick-time events. It also hints further towards the idea that Serah is going to play a very big part in the game, which makes me very happy.

Mass Effect 3 - E3 2011 - Fall of Earth Trailer

One of the most exciting moments of E3 for me was the latest trailer of possibly my all-time favourite franchise: Mass Effect, along with a couple of gameplay demos showcasing Kinect integration and a mission in a Reaper base. These have all worked to get me even more excited for the game, which has unfortunately been pushed back from it's original release date to March 6, 2012. Although I'd rather play this game as early as possible, I guess it gives me time to play the piles of brilliant games set for release later this year.

Halo 4 and Halo: Anniversary - E3 2011 Trailers

This year's Microsoft conference saw not one, but two big Halo announcements! The biggest of this is the start of a new trilogy developed by 343 Industries, formed when Bungie left Microsoft to become an independent company. Part of me is pissed off with the blatant dragging out and milking of the franchise (and that it's not even being made by Bungie), however, another part of me is FUCK YEAH HALO 4!!!!! There's still a long way to go though, as it's set for a 2012 Winter release.

The other announcement was a complete HD remastering of the original Halo, Halo: Combat Evolved, with a new co-op feature and multiplayer online. There's a shorter wait for this, set for release on November 15th 2011, exactly 10 years after the release of the original. As Halo: CE remains to be the only Halo I haven't played, I'll definitely be getting this so I can round off my Halo experience. This is also being released by 343 Industries.

There's also an exclusive video with interviews with 343 Industries:

Assassin's Creed Revelations - E3 Trailer

The first trailer for the next instalment in the Assassin's Creed franchise, and the last to feature Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Despite the lack of gameplay footage, it's certainly worked to get me excited and I definitely can't wait until November 15th.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 - E3 Teaser Trailer

With E3 just 4 days away, Square Enix have released another Teaser Trailer for upcoming title Final Fantasy XIII, this time featuring several clips of gameplay and a plot synopsis. Whilst I'm still unsure about this game and whether or not it'll just be some stitched together money-maker, I can't help but get excited. The fact that Serah is a playable character and looks like she'll be a main part of the story excites me quite a bit to, as I really liked her despite her limited appearances in Final Fantasy XIII. Now I've just got a new Mass Effect 3 trailer to look forward to!

Set a few years after Lightning and the others saved Cocoon, some survivors have decided to start over by rebuilding on Gran Pulse. Lightning, however, is nowhere to be found and thought dead by many, but Serah believes otherwise. When her town is suddenly overrun by monsters, a mysterious man named Noel appears to save her. Together, the two set off to find Lightning…

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Reveal Trailer

2 weeks after the release of the teaser trailers, here comes the first proper trailer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with in-game footage. Although I'm not too much of a fan of Call of Duty I may get this, because it's my dislike of Treyarch that stopped me getting Black Ops and World at War, and Infinity Ward seem to make good enough games. There's also the fact that my friends have much different opinions of this franchise, and if I actually want to play games online with them the next two or three months after release I'll probably have to get this.

After The Rapture

I was going to do a post mocking the fact The Rapture obviously didn't happen, then I thought "Hey, I'm not creative enough to do that!". Luckily, TheThinkingAtheist posted a video to do just that for me, allowing me to go back to mindlessly browsing the internet (Read: /a/) and watching South Park. This is basically a follow-up to an earlier video from when this so called 'Rapture' was first announced, seen below.

Dead Island Teaser Trailer - Tragedy Hits Paradise

The latest Dead Island trailer has arrived, and unlike the announcement trailer, this teaser shows some in-game footage and environments, however, it doesn't show any actual gameplay. They appear to have gone with a similar method as the announcement trailer, in that they've tried to make it emotional. Whilst it can't equal the emotion of the first trailer, my heart certainly did twinge when the music from the first started playing at the end.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Teaser Trailers

I saw a link to this by absolute chance, but on May 13th four new teaser trailers were released concerning Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (which has apparently been in production since two weeks after the release of Modern Warfare 2), each centred around a different country (England, Germany, France and America), providing possible settings for the game. I personally don't particularly care for the Call of Duty franchise after the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but for many people this is a big announcement, so I suppose I better post about it.

The Rapture & Nerimon's Last Video

With The Rapture (21st May 2011) fast approaching, Alex Day - better known as Nerimon - has taken his time to say goodbye to us, his loyal fans, in one last, final video. However, he promises to see all those who won't be going up to heaven "on the battlefield" during the next 5 months of hell on Earth, so it's not all bad.

Good luck to everyone for next Saturday!

Further information on the impending apocalypse can be found here and here.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Trailer

The latest victim of Hollywood's obsessive need for reboots and remakes is once again The Planet of the Apes, this time with a prequel explaining how it all started. I've only seen the remake of The Planet of the Apes and a little bit of one of the original sequels, but I'm aware how much of a classic it is and that they should really be careful with this one. Despite that, this trailer certainly does look interesting, then again, that's the job of a trailer. However, the name of the drug - The Cure- is a bit silly, and the fact the military were unable to shoot down a few apes before they took over the world is a bit of a plot hole.

The Hobbit - Start of Production

Having read The Hobbit and being a very big fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy I simply cannot wait for The Hobbit's film adaptation. On Thursday what seems to be the first of many video diaries from the set of the upcoming film was released, and will surely hype up anyone who has been waiting for years for this film to be made.

Doctor Who Series 6 Full Length Trailer

Doctor Who is one of my all-time favourite television shows, so naturally I'm very excited about the upcoming new series. The full length trailer for the new series was released yesterday with numerous clips from the series. The clips were a bit fast and frequent to make a proper judgement but the FX look pretty impressive. However, I'm not sure how I feel about the seemingly prominent role of River Song, as I've never really warmed to her. Either way, I can't wait!!

Pokémon, What Happened To You?

I've been subscribed to Nerimon for a few months now, but I only just came across this video when I somehow ended up on his Last.fm page.

This song perfectly reflects my opinion on the Pokémon franchise. Whilst I love it and start randomly playing it occasionally (I was playing Crystal recently... until it decided to break today ;_;), I really think it should have died after the second generation. From the second generation onwards the sheer amount of Pokémon, their designs, and their names have steadily declined in quality. Just looking at Black & White there are numerous Pokémon with ridiculous names that are quite clearly named after a certain feature or are a play on the word of what real life animal they resemble. Although I will admit that the new features introduced have of course improved the game, the Pokemon we are left with are just terrible.

Anime Song Guitar Medley

Once again there is a severe lack of posts lately. I'm finding it really difficult to find time for full length news posts, so for a while it'll probably just be YouTube videos of trailers and various other things, anime posts (Winter 2011 End-of-Season Impressions will be next week) and maybe mini news posts.

Now for todays video. I saw this whilst lurking in a K-ON!! General Thread on /a/ and was quite surprised with how many songs I recognised before seeing the list, it sounds pretty damn good as well.

The songs featured are:

1. K-ON! - Cagayake!Girls

2. Digimon Adventure - Butterfly

3. Shakugan no Shana - Joint

4. Durarara!! - Complication

5. Ojamajo Doremi - Ojamajo Carnival!!

6. Neon Genesis Evangelion - Zankoku na Tenshi no These

7. Macross Frontier - Lion

8. To aru Kagaku no Railgun - Only My Railgun

9. To aru Kagaku no Railgun - Level 5 Judgelight

10. Digimon Tamers - Biggest Dreamer

11. Bakemonogatari - Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari

12. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Lost My Music

13. Slam Dunk - Sekai ga Owaru Made Wa

14. K-ON!! - Tenshi ni Fureta yo!

Japan - Tsunami Wave Spills Over Sea Defences

This is one of the latest videos to come from Friday's tragedy, showing the tsunami wave as it spills over the sea defences of the Japanese town of Miyako, taking out everything in it's path. Possibly one of the hardest hitting parts is the short glimpse at 0:47 of a number of cars attempting to drive away.

Tsunami Hits Japan - Possible Nuclear Crisis

I'm going to try and make a proper news post some time tonight, but until then here's some simple information in sxephil's latest video.

LITERAL Dead Island Announcement Trailer

I haven't posted in a few days because I've been kinda busy, but I just watched this again and thought I may as well share it so there's at least one post this week.

If you have any interest in games whatsoever the odds are that you've seen the emotional announcement trailer for the upcoming zombie game Dead Island. My all-time favourite youtuber Toby Turner/Tobuscus/TobyGames does literal trailers for many various film and video game trailers, and despite the humorous lyrics the music to the trailer manages to just make it sad.