I believe this past year was the best year in gaming since 2007. So many great games and plenty more that I never got the chance to get my hands on. It was a long debate between myself and myself, but I finally manage...

There are plenty of excuses I can make for not playing such amazing titles, but really I'd just be lying to myself. While I was still able to play plenty of stellar games this year, sometimes I miss out on some true ge...

Last year I had to give this prestigious award to an otherwise average title. Thankfully(?) I played several games that were much, much worse in 2011. If it weren't for the glorious draw of achievements, points and tr...

The most disappointing games of every year aren't always necessarily the "worst" games. In fact, some are still fairly commendable. Final Fantasy XIII, for instance, the "winner" of last year's award was still a gorge...

Amidst the dust of this abandoned website, behold, Five Alarm Podcast #14! Update your iTunes podcast!

It's been a while since either of us have written a "Whoops!" article, or any other article for that matter. So I thought I would kick it off with a little something extra. A sort of "Live Blog", if you will. The...

Game Informer, also known as the print overlord of video game announcements, threw their latest cover story to their adoring masses earlier today. While the latest Assassin's Creed has been leaking out bit by bit...

Suddenly, I have the desperate need to play this again.

It pains me to say it now, but I used to be a big Windows supporter. Starting with Windows 3.11, I didn't use anything else until I got into Linux a few years ago. Even then it was only to build my DVR; I still used W...

Finally! While I may be a little tardy to the party, I figured I should wrap it up as quickly as I can before my opinions on 2010 are completely invalidated. Perhaps this list does the job for me! Nevertheless,...

Am I a bad person? Yes I am. In order to save myself a lot of bitching for not adding games I haven't played into my Game of the Year, I'm including a category for the best games I didn't play. So, feel free to keep ...

Much like my Best Expansion or Add-On category, I feel awkward for making this category. It isn't necessarily a terrible game, it's just the worst game that I played. Still, I'd feel remiss if I have the same category...

This is a tough category for me, not because I don't specifically know what the winner is, but because I didn't really buy and play a whole lot of add-on content this year. It's really a fight over two add-ons for me, ...

Every year is filled with disappointments. While many gamers confuse "disappointing" with "worst", I must state the difference. There is still a line between a competent game that you've been looking forward to that t...

As 2010 slowly winds to a close, it's time to take a look back on all of the amazing titles that were released. This has become an increasingly difficult task, considering how many great games are hitting shelves these...

So I've shown my interest in Crystal Dynamic's much needed "reboot" of the Tomb Raider franchise. The new Lara looks amazing and the direction they seem to be going in is fresh and interesting. I'm genuinely excit...

Oh no! I've drank 5 cokes in the past 3 days! Damn you Austin! I guess the fact that they were free (at work) may have been a factor...

D.E.B.S. (2004) - 8 One of the best independent films of 2004, goes from stupid girl power movie to full blown lesbian love story. Jordana Brewster picks up a hotness multiplier, like a x2 or a x4 at the end of the fir...

Hey, remember the Cold War Kids? I thought they all died too, until I was puttering around YouTube and happened upon their excellent 2006 hit song "Hang Me Up to Dry", or rather the song's equally excellent video. Fro...

I've been playing a lot of World of Warcraft in the past few days. I'm back. I'm back! I've been making tons of gold, or at least what I consider tons of gold. 600 gold, 3 days work, level 45-47. Finally auctione...

So it's almost August and I've been bringing a jacket to work. Because it's cold. In San Diego. In July. What's going on? Not that I'm complaining. Everyone knows that it's better to be too cold than too hot, in...

Back in 2006 I decided to review every movie I'd ever seen. It was an ambitious project, considering I'd seen a lot of movies, but I thought if I just wrote one line per film I'd get through it. It was fun, but I onl...

Hey, folks, it's been a while since I wrote anything (literally anything), but I'm working on getting back on the wagon and start the daily updates again. The last thing I wrote was Whoops! I Saw Star Trek V: The F...

Well, I've stretched it out as long as I can, the sweet memories of a better place. Let's start with delicious, sizzling bacon. These were taken on a walk around the outskirts of Cave Junction where my Aunt ...

If you've been near an internet recently, you may have noticed that the world is freaking out about iPhone 4 antennae reception issues. Consumer Reports recommends that you don't buy the phone, just because of this. ...

There are so few compared to years past, but here they are: We'll start with a trip to Ashland Ashland Countryside The main attraction in Ashland is, of course, Lithia Park Neat plants Blair Witch...

Sunset from the train So this year we (myself, my mom, and my brother) took a 24-hour train ride to Oregon. The trip up was alright, uh, until the end. The train rolled into our destination, Klamath Falls, at abou...

Here they are, by popular demand! This year my brother, uncle, and cousins went to Lake Selmac, near Cave Junction. There is no professional or organized show at Lake Selmac, just people coming out of the woods and se...

I just don't understand how illegal immigration is still an issue 26 years after Phil Collins's dire warning:

Dear Justin: What is the saddest thing? Answer:

Eventually, it must begin to wane. The Star Trek franchise didn't have a strong start, but it certainly began to pick up in pace thanks to the still magnificent second entry The Wrath of Khan. Thanks to the succe...

OK so Austin's blogs are coherent and professional. Here's my blog on a few random topics: Party Down Kimberly already got me a fantastic birthday present by introducing me to the show Party Down. Do you like telev...

Alright, Sony... What've you got for me aside from this crazy sizzle reel? I'm sure there'll be a lot of focus on Move. I'm also sure there'll be at least some focus on the PS2. I just hope there's a ton of Kevin But...

I'm back from work! Looks like I missed the big Zelda reveal, but I guess it still looks a lot like Zelda. Pumped! Alright, more to come! I'm guessing there'll be a lot of Nintendo ridiculousness. The Legend ...

Hey, the pre-show music is The Killers' Spaceman. Oh, hey, guys, I'm "live-blogging" the EA press conference so I can log my thoughts of it while it happens! Last year's EA conference was a snoozefest, along with Ubis...

Last year, I broke in my twitter account by live-tweeting all of the E3 press conferences. This year, I unfortunately had to work during the Microsoft Press Conference, but I've managed to avoid some spoilers, aside fr...

Grab it through iTunes or download the MP3. Now here's what Austin wrote: The Bees turn on Morgan in this very special Five Alarm Podcast. The Five Alarm Bees regroup for the One-Two podcast in which we discuss, ...

Looks like Justin's detective work did, in fact, unveil shoddy Photoshop-manship but even better, it unveiled Harmonix's shoddy Photoshop-manship. USA Today cut the ribbon on Rock Band 3, showing off the new keyboard p...

E3 is coming up quick and with barely a week to spare, developers and publishers alike are trying to squeeze as much information as they can into the big reveals planned in the coming days. However, news struck yes...

So this well-produced video of Mortal Kombat kharacters doing krazy carate moves (sorry, I'll stop right now) has the internet abuzz about what it could possibly be. Mortal Kombat hasn't been this huge in some time...

After taking the weekend off after reviewing two games in a row, I couldn't really find enough time to write about my hour-long experience with Crackdown. I spent most of that time trying to think of a good name for an...

"Stephen King once wrote, 'Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there’s little fun to be had in explanations; they’re antithetical to the poetry of fear'." I'm not trying to get all subliminal or thought-provok...

Red Dead Redemption is one of the few games that I knew next to nothing about upon its release. All I knew going in was that it was developed by Rockstar's San Diego team, it was a spiritual successor to Red Dead...

Another day passes without a Red Dead review, but I promise, I'm working on it!! Hopefully it'll be up before the weekend. In a lazy attempt to continue daily content, here's a trailer for one of the reasons that ...

The original idea was to finish my review of Red Dead Redemption by today, but such is not the case. I'm only half way done. So, here's a wacky video from YouTube that I caught. It's been floating around for abou...

For those of you keeping score, there are now more than five hundred Pokemon to be caught and you must absolutely without question catch 'em all. Also, for those of you keeping score, Pokemon Black/White marks the ...

So I caught a matinée showing of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and went in expecting an entertaining romp via Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton. I came away with my expectations met, for the most part. Like...

The full crew is joined by special guest (and teacher) Amanda Reynolds as the Bees discuss holy cheeseballs, the benefits of bonus cupcakes, the domestic box office of Step Up 2: The Streets, the proper usage of I, me, ...

Sources around the internet, which has more commonly been referred to in stunning accuracy, were a-buzz this morning when a story broke out about Michel Ancel, creator of Beyond Good & Evil, leaving Ubisoft Montpell...

I'm usually the one in my group of friends and acquaintances who will bring up games that someone has either never imagined existed or simply doesn't quite understand my excitement. Introducing a new segment in whi...

So, there's this image that's been floating around that was ripped from the Green Day: Rock Band demo code from those tech-philes at Ars Technica that shows an instrument with ivory keys. At first, rumors were sw...

So I found this reference guide to exactly how big Just Cause 2's world was and holy crap. While it doesn't include every other open world game, it's a good graph to put it all in perspective. Man, remember whe...

So I've been waiting for a good drivin' game for a while and last year didn't really do it for me, even with the myriad of titles to choose from including Forza 3, Need for Speed: SHIFT, and DiRT 2. I haven't really pl...

So, Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet 2 was announced this morning, showcasing the community's achievements to go absolutely nuts with the original game. Now, you can make full games based on the "development kit" withi...

Straight out of Gamasutra comes a word from industry analyst Mike Hickey that Infinity Ward, or at least the studio as we know it, may not be around for much longer. "Continued defections from their Infinity Ward studi...

My Internet is down at home (thanks Cox!), so I had to do something I haven't done in about 7 or 8 years: find a driver disc. For a network card. I had recently purged my CD shelf of all things useless, so I went look...

A few upgrades for our tiny but fervent Podcast audience You may now click the "iTunes" link on the left side of the main page under "Check out our podcast" and... it works! Put us on your iPod the way podcasts were me...

At long last, the FiveAlarmPodcast presents: our Desert Island 5. Download the podcast here (right-click and save), and click "Read more" to see the full list and more photos. MORGAN Rosario Dawson Rach...

If you'd like to see what is in the future for FiveAlarmBees.com, then check out Moontards.com, a site I've been working on for a while. It's a site where anyone can leave a comment and vote on other comments. In the ...

I haven't even thrown in the disc yet, but my copy of God of War III is in hand. I'm prepped and ready with pizza, plenty of beer and Coca-Cola Classic. And not another member of Five Alarm Bees in sight! This is eit...

The title is ironic: everyone involved seems to hate this podcast. Listen before you judge, lest ye be judged, I sayeth! Here it is, without a single word edited out: FiveAlarmPodcast 10. Right click and save, yo! ...

They've finally been caught! Their true nature revealed! From CNN: Alaska authorities say woman may have died in wolf attack.

It's up and it's bleeped! A fun mess of a podcast, FiveAlarmPodcast 9, is up. Remember you're basic internet training: right-click and select "Save Link As". This we'll have to do until Austin writes a audio-streami...

This blog serves no other purpose than to replace "The Godcast" as being the most recent blog. It should contain the most recent FiveAlarmPodcast, which was "recorded", but exists only as sloppy segments of echoes and ...

What's on God's mind this week? Grab the hot new Godcast and find out! Will he answer thy soul's deepest yearning? Maybe. Actually no, I've already listened. It's mostly about his cat. And it's 2 minutes long. ...

FiveAlarmBees.com is back sort of! The pictures don't work! Exclamation mark!

Played a lot today. You shoot dudes a lot. It's great. Five stars out of five.

The FiveAlarmBees.com server is back up and in its new home, the living room of my La Mesa apartment. Now that I'm on Cox, I've got approximately five times the upload bandwidth, so you can download podcasts and such ...

Ah, Jimmy Stewart, one of the greatest actors and greatest voices of all time. It is fitting, then, that he should be the man to beat in this challenge. For James Stewart has 8 films in the IMDb top 250 (Nos. 17, 28,...

Mickey Rooney got his first Hollywood role in 1926, when he played "A midget". He's been racking up credits ever since. With 324, he seems to me to be the leader when it comes to total acting credits on IMDb. But is...

Challenge might not be the right word. IMDb Fact? Statement? Impossible challenge? I'm not sure if it's possible to beat this one. Angelina Jolie has been in 41 movies and shows since she was a little kid in 19...

Have you heard of Amber Heard? I first saw her in Pineapple Express, where she played Seth Rogan's girlfriend. She is a 23-year-old actress who has 6 film credits for 2009, and 28 acting credits overall from 2004-201...

Well, I hate money and love laptops, so naturally I bought: A MacBook Pro! I'm now a Mac snob. I look forward to user-friendly video and audio editing. Also, since it only has 2 USB ports, I look forward to ...

August has already hit us with the post-Madden rush, including one of the best downloadable games of all time and one of the greatest comic book hero (hell, THE BEST Batman) games of all time. While I work on writing u...

The holiday rush of video games that excel on every front is finally upon us. In the next few months, thousands of gamers will find themselves doing whatever it takes to make up the extra cash to pick up whatever holida...

Here's a refresher course about why this game is going to be the best original XBLA game this year. Think Metroid mixed with Castlevania mixed with Blackthorne. The Original Trailer from E3 2009 The Gameplay Demo...

This "review" is spoiler free. Went to see District 9 earlier today. I've had some time to reflect on it and I have to say that it's easily one of the best films I've ever seen. The story is so original and so wond...

FiveAlarmBees.com is in need of a logo. Do you have one? Why haven't you shown it to me then? No, I won't be mad at you... why would...? Oh my. Is that a bee? Well yes I want a bee in the logo but... No I'm not m...

Here's the setup. I was surfing around my usual sites and Destructoid had a new "Rev Rant", a semi-weekly series wherein the Reverend Anthony was discussing empowerment in video games. While it's certainly a way to ma...

Uh, well it appears the Internet has found our website. Check out the 8479 comments that Austin's blog The Godfather: The Game. has received. Nice too see that the server can handle moderate spam traffic without crash...

Well, I can't resist pilots. Here are two I recently found on Hulu: Warehouse 13 Starring Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek on the SyFy Network or on hulu.com Warehouse 13 is on the SyFy netw...

Within the past few months, the following has happened to me: I was in a car crash on the freeway. I've become very sick with a mystery illness, to the point where I can't even watch a movie with my friends. Last mon...

While trying to get to sleep, I lay here debating how neat a FAB app would be. Aside from that, I took the time to briefly compile this list of games coming out between late-August to November. Games that are on many g...

I'm back in San Diego. Everything's cool. I'm going up to LA this weekend to see Kimberly and retrieve my kitty. Here are a couple of weirdos:

Here are some more pictures from the accident. We are back at my Grandparents' house in Grants Pass. On Tuesday we packed as much of our stuff from the RV as we could into moving boxes. We had no way of moving ...

At three o'clock yesterday, we were driving on the I-5 to Seattle, outside of Portland, when a woman driving a minivan decided to go the wrong way up a freeway offramp, and then make a wide-right turn on to the freeway,...

Small-time fireworks are legal in Oregon, so naturally, come the evening of July 4th, the Safeway and Albertson's parking lots of Grants Pass fill with noise and sparks and good times. Here are some blurry ni...

Here are a few pictures from our rafting trip yesterday on the Rogue River, from the hatchery down to Shady Cove. It's the fourth year in a row that I've been down this section of the river, and I think this year had ...

I bought a new digital camera today, a Casio Exilim. It's very small, and fairly priced. It cost 152.19 California Dollars, but since I was in Oregon, I only paid $139.95. I also received happiness, love, less traff...

Well, I've been in Oregon for three days, and after collecting my bar of gold and several womens (generously supplied by the best state in the union), I finally have some pictures to post. Since the FiveAlarmBees.com w...

While I've reviewed it (professionally) in the past, I needed to go back and see how James Bond 007: NightFire holds up nearly seven years later. Due to my limited memory capacity, I didn't actually realize that I had ...

Well, my limited retrospective was disrupted while trying to play NightFire on the 360. While the game is listed as a backwards compatible game, it locks up very easily and fails to load the current level I'm on. Than...

As my life partner Justin had pointed out, talking about dated games is all the rage. Instead of going back and checking out the dregs of two-thousand and LATE (I still need to play through Prince of Persia), I decided...

I just beat Mirror's Edge. It was a frustrating, short game with a mediocre story. And is probably one of my favorite games. What shines through the above flaws is the adrenaline powered rush that gets me bouncing o...

If someone gave me a million dollars and said go make a game show / sitcom / cooking show this is the one I'd make: ACRONYMICAL The Acronyms Picture Jeopardy!, but instead of trivia questions (er uh, answers) in e...

After being down for about 2 days, the web site is back up! The server, which sits in my bedroom, somehow contracted the incurable Austin's Apartment Computer Sickness/Possible Haunting. This coincided with a dynamic ...

Work to do: Implement AJAX method for compose.php previews and saves Use mod_rewrite for blog URLs Create MustardBar™ tag for linking to internal blogs Automatically create a thumbnail during picture upload proces...

Hooray! FiveAlarmBees.com now has images! It's like 1991, only 18 years later. So how do these newfangled picture datas work? Mustard Bar™ makes uploading and adding images to your blog easy. After logging...

My goal: to increase my Google ranking from Rank 78 (with the Trolley Times) to Page 1, Rank 1 with fivealarmbees.com.

The Microsoft Press Conference started off with a very classy trailer for The Beatles: Rock Band. The trailer had me pretty pumped to play some Beatles on fake, plastic instruments. Alex Rigopolous took the stage and ...

I've been working on building my library of video games, while focusing on the recent platforms such as Xbox and PS2. I recently purchased Street Fighter IV which marked my 100th game for the Xbox 360. You wouldn't kn...

This week was upfront week for the broadcast networks. During upfronts, the new fall schedule for their TV shows are announced and, consequently, shows that don't make the list are officially canceled. One of my fav...

You should really stop drinking coffee.

Well, I've been out of it for the past week. Out of what you ask? It, I respond. I had a terrible week at work. Usually a horrible week at work doesn't necessarily bleed over into the weekend, so I planned to have...

There hasn't been a new podcast in a while due to Justin's lack of a social dwelling. Hopefully we'll have one for everyone next week. In the meantime, I've been playing Jak and Daxter: The Precursor's Legacy, which I...

FiveAlarmPodcast #6 is available for download at your leisure: MP3 Version. This week we had special guest Morgan Stephenson in the "studio". This was especially fortunate since we mentioned wet nurses, Super Scope,...

The Godfather was released nearly three years ago on several consoles and I managed to pick it up soon after it was released. I proceeded to dump a few hours into it, come to the conclusion that it was GTA but not as g...

Using HTML tags within a blog is discouraged here at FiveAlarmBees.com. Instead we use the Mustard Bar(tm) rendering engine, which uses some basic codes for formatting and links. This guide does not cover the [image...

The Godfather II was released recently and instead of throwing down sixty bucks on it, I decided to go back to the original game that I threw down sixty bucks on three years ago and played only two hours of. After se...

You can download the MP3 version. In the future perhaps there will be an AAC version! This week's podcast is quite a bit shorter than previous 'casts, clocking in at only 33 minutes. But unlike last week, no one fa...