[email protected] Technique Entertainment Editor: Patricia Uceda 17 Assistant Entertainment Editor: Friday, Entertainment Zheng Zheng April 22, 2011 GAGA-LICIOUS Little Monsters go gaga for Gaga By Will Folsom Contributing Writer CONCERT Monster Ball Tour Stefani Germanotta—better known PERFORMER: Lady Gaga as Lady GaGa to “little monsters” ev- erywhere—brought her sold-out Mon- LOCATION: Gwinnett Arena ster Ball Tour to the Gwinnett Arena on DATE: April 18 Monday evening. Long time musician and dancer, GaGa has been lauded for OUR TAKE: ««««« setting a new standard as a total perfor- mance artist and is arguably the most talked about celebrity on the planet; at 33 million Facebook fans and 9.5 million Twitter followers, it’s hard to see it otherwise. Among other things, this was the one of the few big-name Atlanta concerts to have sold out since Justin Bieber brought her—excuse me, his— show to Philips Arena last Dec. GaGa’s tour has only a handful of performances remaining, including several sold out futbol stadiums in Mexico. As such, GaGa showed up ready to go all out—and she was astounding. I’ve been a little monster since GaGa’s single “Paparazzi” was released, so seeing this concert brought together three or so years of my own wish to see her in person – although there were actually a few aspects of her concert I found unappealing. A good portion of the Arena was empty during the opening act, Semi Precious Weapons, with most of the people milling around outside taking pictures with the slew of crazily dressed fans. With a style comparable to a less edgy Jet, Weapons’ act was decent, but nothing super special; fans will probably remember more about their fun in the atrium than regretting miss- ing the first act. Lead singer Justin Tranter – long-time friend of GaGa since her starting days in New York City – is actually fairly talented, and I myself got to speak with him back stage near wardrobe. He was incredibly humble, and he wished me the best of luck photographing the concert. See Gaga, page 20 Photo by Will Folsom / Student Publications Scream 4 revives KombatGAMES slays competition Mortal Kombat deceased franchise CONSOLE: PS3, Xbox 360 FILM GENRE: Fighting Scream 4 DEVELOPER: NetherRealm GENRE: Slasher Studios STARRING: Neve Campbell RATING: MA DIRECTOR: Wes Craven RELEASED: April 19 RATING: R OUR TAKE: ««««« RELEASE DATE: April 15 Image Courtesy of NetherRealm Studios By Andrew Akker “Ladder” in this version, or the The Challenge Tower is a OUR TAKE: ««««« Contributing Writer story mode. place where players can go test The story mode for the newest out their skills in various unorth- By Hank Whitson Over the past 19 years, The version of Mortal Kombat starts odox ways. The different levels Staff Writer Mortal Kombat franchise has out with a vision of the future of the tower require the player more or less defined the style where Shao Khan is about to kill to use a game-selected character In 1996, writer Kevin Wil- of arcade fighters with its fast- Raiden when the game sends it- to complete various objectives liamson and director Wes Craven paced action sequences and gory self into a flash back to the start against predetermined oppo- brought slasher flicks into the Image Courtesy of Dimension Films after-effects. Simply titled Mor- of the entire Mortal Kombat tour- nents, such as performing a fatal- post-modern era with Scream. It making fun of itself, opening with tal Kombat, this ninth iteration nament where the events all be- ity after the fight or not being al- was a smart, self-aware horror a double movie-within-a-movie in the series seeks to take this gan. The player will go through lowed to block during the fight. film with a great sense of humor frame narrative, featuring three well-defined style of gameplay various chapters in the story In all of these modes the play- and a hip and sexy cast. It was an ominous phone calls. The ensu- and improve on the looks while dedicated to certain characters er will acquire “kurrency,” which instant hit that spawned a strong ing dialog mocks everything from adding a bit more features into such as Sonya Blade or Scorpion, can be used in the Krypt to un- sequel and a mandatory, mediocre torture fetishes to relentless “se- the fray. each of whom fight for their own lock various concept art, music third act to round out the trilogy. quelization” to horror movies that When the player first starts reasons. or new fatalities for the various Now, a decade and a year later, mock other movies. up the game, they are taken to The Ladder mode is like a characters. The Krypt involves Williamson and Craven are back, One of the great strengths of an action packed menu screen simple classic arcade mode. The the player moving around an and Neve Campbell returns to the Scream 4 is that it can be enjoyed which depicts a moment in the player chooses a fighter and area of mass torture and murder. big screen as Sidney Prescott to be as a direct sequel to the original or epic battle between Scorpion and fights his or her way up through When the player chooses what harried and haunted by Ghost- as a continuation of the series. If it Subzero. From here, the player the various characters in a simple to unlock, it will use the player’s face all over again. Scream 4 is suits your fancy, you can pretend can choose from a multitude of ladder or arcade style. There’s kurrency and the item can be not merely surprisingly good—it that Scream 2 and Scream 3 never options to play. The most obvi- also a tag ladder mode where the used in combat, listened to or is the most fun I have had at the happened. ous ones to start with would be player chooses two characters to movies so far this year. Kombat the classic arcade mode, named fight in a two versus two styles. See , page 19 The movie wastes no time See Scream, page 22 ENTERTAINMENT Technique • April 22, 2011 • 19 Kombat from page 17 viewed. Thrones mixes political drama, fantasy Players can also seek new chal- TELEVISION The story of Game of Thrones lenges online playing against oth- Game of Thrones revolves around the competi- er players from around the world. tion for control of the kingdom Various game modes such as nor- NETWORK: HBO of Westeros, a massive mythical mal one-on-one or other custom WHEN: Sundays 9 p.m. kingdom spanning a continent game types can be played in for and enveloping seven major politi- any challenge that a player wishes STARRING: Sean Bean, Lena cal factions. to make to anyway one who wants Headey, Mark Addy Twenty years prior to the start to accept it. The online system of the show Lord Eddard Stark, works pretty well and seems very OUR TAKE: ««««« played by Sean Bean, and Lord responsive. The fighting style for Robert Baratheon, played by the game is very similar to the past By Alex Klusmeyer Mark Addy, led a rebellion which games in the series with a major Contributing Writer overthrew the previous despotic difference: a graphics overhaul. dynasty, the Targaryen’s, killing The game is much prettier to look In Game of Thrones, HBO’s almost the entire dynasty and at than in the past. The game also new hour-long drama, the literary placing Robert on the throne, in runs completely smooth at a full world of the A Song of Ice and Fire hopes of him being a more just 60 frames per second without any series is brought to life in a very ruler. hiccups. direct translation of the first novel Things since then have gone A new addition relating to the of the series, A Game of Thrones. awry, however. To solidify his Image Courtesy of HBO graphics in the game is the inclu- The show is HBO’s offering rule, Robert married Cersei Lan- plots on the throne and ultimately moves fast to establish the main sion of X-Ray moves. When exe- into the recent surge in medieval nister, played by Lena Headey, finds many lives at peril. characters and leave the viewers cuted, a high damaging maneuver themed shows, like Showtime’s the aloof daughter of the power- The actors and actresses all do with the novel’s first major twist will be done with an X-Ray view historical The Borgias and Starz’s ful Lannister family, another po- excellent jobs in capturing their as a hook to keep watching, it did of the person having their bones fantasy Camelot. tential contender for the throne. character’s personality as depicted so at a pace which introduced all and organs crushed during the While Game of Thrones is fan- The marriage has turned cold as in the novels. Sean Bean pulls off the main characters properly and move. It’s a very interesting idea tasy, it is centered more around Robert has followed his hobbies Eddard Stark as driven, realistic, gave them all a good start at de- that gives a whole new aspect to themes of political plotting and of hunting, drinking and whoring and cold while Mark Addy cap- veloping their characters to the viewing the pain you’re inflicting the pursuit of power than any- more than ruling and fathering a tures Robert Baratheon as jolly, viewers. on your opponent as well as a new thing else.