Random Thoughts of Jorriss

J and I were talking last night and since Superman Returns just opened we got on the topic of best comic villains of all time. Without any further ado here is my top ten comic villains.

10. Identity Crisis Villain – Since this book is only a few years old and there are so many who have not read it (shame on you) I won’t give away the culprit. Let’s just say this whodunit has a antagonist you won’t suspect.
9. Onslaught – Some think that Onslaught was lame they may be right. But to almost destroy the entire Marvel universe deserves a spot on my list.
8. Anti-Monitor – As a kid I read Crisis on Infinite Earths a few hundred times and to this day I still don’t understand some of the things that go on in this book. But one thing I do know is that the Anti-Monitor was a bad mamajamma and almost succeeded in riding the universe of all positive matter.
7. Venom – When the parasite that Spider-Man used as one of the coolest costumes ever merged with loser Eddie Brock Venom was created. Bringing his own brand of justice and psychosis to Spidey’s world Venom is a force to be reckoned with.  Just thinking about Amazing Spider-Man #300 where Venom terrorizes Mary Jane still freaks me out.
6. Dark Phoenix – Taking over the body of the hottest X-Men ever. Check. Kill five billion people. Check. Be the center of the best comic arcs ever. Priceless.
5. Cassandra Nova – The twin sister of Professor Charles Xavier murdered over sixteen million mutants on Genosha by commanding an army of Sentinels. She then proceeds to nearly defeat Prof X and the X-Men. Grant Morrison, the creator of Cassandra Nova, is a genius
4. Green Goblin – He makes this list just by murdering Peter Parker’s first love, Gwen Stacy. Peter is still haunted by her death to this day.
3. Lex Luthor - I’ve got to put Lex on the list for never giving up on his dream of a world without Superman. He even threw away his position as President of the United States to destroy Supes. Gotta love a man with a dream.
2. Joker – Any villain who kills Robin and paralyzes Batgirl needs to be on this list. And I don’t care what you say about the Red Hood, Jason Todd is dead!
1. Magneto – The long time nemesis of the X-Men is a complex and deep villain. He’s been bad, good, evil, young, old and really, really, evil. When he ripped out Wolvie’s adamantium Prof X mind wiped him causing the creation of villain number nine, Onslaught. Then he infiltrates the X-Mansion and works as a teacher for months and uses micro-sentinels to give Xavier the ability to walk. When he finally reveals himself he destroys much of NYC and kills Jean Grey. If that’s not the epitome of a villain I don’t know what is.

One of the editors from 1up.com was recently on DL.TV and spoke very highly of NCAA Football 2007 for the XBox 360. So I decided to Google a bit and see if I can find a preview of the game. Of course Google knows all and IGN has an excellent write up on the new version of my favorite football game. According to the article, EA sent a team of people to photograph and measure seventy different stadiums. They also used satellites to capture the sun position to add photorealistic detail to the game. EA has also done away with the cardboard crowds and replaced them with more realistic fans. They’ve also accurately located student sections, alumni sections, visitor sections and even the band sections. Unfortunately, they’ve also added the FSU chop and the Gator chomp. I guess no game is perfect. I wonder if they will add the Orange Bowl “Gators Suck!” chant and the mock FSU chant (Bleep you Seminoles, Seminoles bleep you!)? One could only hope. Also, the 360 stadium versions will boast 125,000 polygons as opposed to the current generations 2,500 polys.

Other highlights:

·         A new momentum meter has been added that leads to big plays both on offense and defense.

·         Impact players will play a bigger part than last year.

·         The commentary will be more diverse.

·         A 30-year dynasty mode will be included.

·         The Vision Cone, Hit Stick and Truck Stick will be in the game.

·         Mini games Bowling, Tug of War and Option Dash have been added.

·         Fifty achievements to earn 360 gamer points

·         Capture a picture and share it in a the NCAA Photo Album.

I’m really looking forward to this game but my biggest question is how will it play on Xbox Live? Will there be a mode over live so I can set up a league against my friends? There better be since I need to get all of you loser UM IV alum a reason to get a 360.

I also found a Flickr photoset of NCAA Football 2007 covers. We all know that Reggie Bush will be on this years cover but it looks like Photoshopped equipped indivisuals have made their own covers. There are some UM covers in the set and they are the U cover, the DJ cover, the Baraka cover, and the Merriweather cover. But I think we can all agree that EA would sell a TON more games if they just went with the Alba cover.

NCAA Football 2007 will be released on July 18th.