Toys R Us Movies app is a juvenile attempt at movie streaming

Toys R Us has started a new movie streaming service complete with a Xbox Live app. Can it match CinemaNow? Can it compete with the likes of Vudu Movies? Should Flixster be scared? What about established content cages such as Amazon Instant video? Google Play? Itunes? Should they all run for the hills from Geoffrey Giraffe?

In a word: No.

Strangely, even though the technology behind the service is by Rovi, the same technology that drives Best Buy’s Cinemanow service, Toy’s R Us Movies isn’t a part of the DECE Ultraviolet group. That means the movies you bought from your local retail store that came with Ultraviolet codes will not activate on Toys R Us Movies, while you can watch them on Vudu Movies, CInemaNow and Flixster you won’t be watching it on Toys R Us Movies unless you buy it a second time. Likewise, if you buy a Toys R Us Movies copy, you can’t export it into your Ultraviolet account. It’s locked in and completely stuck in the Toys R US sandbox. Although you can watch it on computer, tablet, phone and game consoles for now, with more devices promised in the future.

Content sandbox Google Play you can watch your purchases on Xbox Live using the Youtube app, on your computer using YouTube.com, on your tablet or phone using Google Play Movies and TV app.  While Amazon Instant Video is even more limited and only allows you to watch your purchases online and on some consoles, but not on any other tablet besides a Kindle HD and no phones. Let’s not even get into iTunes... all of these have also missed the Ultraviolet boat.

The high prices and the lack of Ultraviolet makes Toys R Us Movies a real loser, I recommend most users stay clear for the foreseeable future, it’s just not worth it. The competition is light years ahead offering more freedom and value.

So who is Toys R Us movies for? Well, people that want a sandbox, a kid friendly sandbox to be exact. A quick peek around in the Toys R Us Movies playground and you will start to notice that the movies and TV choices only include G, PG and PG-13 offerings. This is a major perk for someone that wants to leave a little one alone watching movies and have the peace of mind that they can’t get into too much trouble. They will still  be able to watch violent movies like G.I. Joe and Batman, and also movies with adult subject matter like “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” just nothing with an R rating.

The selection can be browsed based on age group and other categories such as Barbie, Batman and Harry Potter. Their selection includes Disney films, which also don’t play fair with Ultraviolet either way anyways.

In the end Toys R Us Movies has it’s own corner of the streaming movie market but cannot directly compete with established services for the average customer. If they somehow removed the need to double purchase already owned movies they could possibly be a contender, maybe through some disc to digital program like CinemaNow and Vudu Movies has in place.

"The Last of Us" Stealth Review

The Last of us is a game that has zombies, but not really. But what isn’t being said is it is also a stealth game, but not really. Next to zero of the situations in the game can be tackled with stealth. Sure there is stealth mechanics, you can crouch and sneak around undetected, but this won’t allow you to tackle the game in a non-violent way. Every situation will end with you murdering everyone or everything in the area before you are allowed to move on. In some rare cases you might be able to run to the exit, but rarely if ever sneak. It’s not that the stealth doesn’t work, no, you can successfully sneak around an area 5 times in a circle but you will eventually learn that to leave the area you will need to either set up a ladder and climb in the middle of the most open and exposed positions in the area, or lift a loud and easily visible garage door. Needless to say any of these exits would alert everyone in the entire area.

The lack of stealth becomes blindingly clear when at one point in the game one of your companions during a cutscene explains how there will be a skeleton crew at night and it will be easy to sneak past. After failing to try and pass previous areas with stealth and learning that it just wasn’t possible, I was excited to see how an area that was designed to be overtaken by stealth would play out. But I was greeted with another area where you couldn’t leave until everyone was dead. They went as far as putting a triangle floaty on the door you needed but leaving it greyed out so you couldn’t even try to open it until the enemies that hadn’t even detected you were dispatched.

I really wish the game came with a disclaimer in the instruction manual next to the sneaking instructions:

The Last of Us (Warning does not contain any actual stealth)

The rest of the game is superbly passable, not the 10 out of 10 that every critic seems to be giving it. The graphics are great, the voice acting is good, the story is well written.The action for the most part works, sure the AI isn’t the brightest, sometimes their behavior is downright awkward and strange. That is something that Naughty Dog struggled with, yet improved in the Uncharted series. Now that the enemies need more advanced behavior the AI isn’t quite up to the task, this includes your companions. Maybe they will improve in The Last of US 3?

In a day and age when games are touting “Play your way” “Non-linear” “Multiple endings” “Branching Paths” “Remembers your choices” The Last of Us unapologetically forces you through a rat maze, not just of story, but of game mechanics and gameplay. Want to sneak past the entire encounter? Sorry, regardless of your skill, that isn’t how we wanted you to do it. Want to stealth kill everyone in the area and avoid direct conflict? Sorry, we designed the area so that the enemies stay so close to each other that stealth killing everyone isn’t possible.

The Last of Us is a great game if you ignore the false advertisement of stealth gameplay.