The Amazing Spider-Man “Super Preview” Trailer. Big, Loud And What Else Ya Got?

Posted on May 15, 2012 by geelw

I dunno…. maybe I’m just too jaded (and yes, Spider-Man 3 pretty much annoyed the hell out of me), but out of all the summer movies in theaters on the way, this one isn’t making my “gotta see it!” meter dance around at all. Sure, it looks great and expensive and New Yorky as all hell (I’m allowed to say this because I live here), but I think Spidey needs a rest for a bit. Between the awful Broadway musical and all the controversy it caused (sure, it was a “hit” for the tourists, but no Noo Yawkuh I know has seen it) to the new Spidey having too much hair for my tastes, I’m sitting this one out until it hits cable. Also (and this bugged the crap out of me in The Avengers), what’s the deal with all the secret identity exposure in these flicks. Is it in the contract that we NEED to see the actor’s face when it SHOULD be covered up because someone will say “hey, that’s so and so” if that hero guy or gal was on the street not doing the hero thing?

Eh, whatever. ot’ll make a mint, so my opinions are moot at the end of the day. That said, I have the feeling that the game Beenox is working on for Activision might actually be a lot more fun than the film and I’m VERY excited for that (if that’s any consolation to you Spidey fans out there)…

Windows Update: The Old Normal Returns (Or: “What The What?”)

Posted on May 14, 2012 by geelw

It figures. I go ape online for a few hours redoing passwords and getting used to my files being reorgani-zized by Windows seeming at random, shut down my PC to get out for some air, come back a bit later, turn the damn thing on to resume my stress testing and BOOM. I see ALL my old stuff back where it was before I freaked out. DUH. But still, WTF, Microsoft? ake be bend over backwards, pull my hair out and run around screaming in circles, THEN let me know (silently) that all was not lost after all.

Hmmm… It’s like being married, but without the romance. Er, wait a sec…. Oh, never mind… Feh. OK, let me go glue my hair back on and resume my regular stuff that I was ALREADY behind in getting to! Grrrr…

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Isn’t The First “Musical Comedy” Game On A Console…

Posted on May 14, 2012 by geelw

As much as I respect Warren Spector, I noticed he made a slight error in a recent interview when he noted that Junction Point’s upcoming Epic Mickey sequel would be the first musical comedy video game. Wellll, I bet Nippon Ichi Software may have a tiny issue with that. Their insanely cute, insanely easy and on a few occasions, insanely hilarious PlayStation One strategy/RPG, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure gets to wear that crown. I was working in an indie game shop when it hit the US back in 2000 and it was one of those titles that we couldn’t keep in stock because a wide range of customers found something to love about the game.

Parents with young kids liked the total lack of violent content, kids liked the songs and jokes and JRPG fans of a few ages found the game easy, but funny enough to dive into just to hear every one of the songs in the game. I did have to explain why there were a few too many panty jokes in the game to one concerned parental unit, but overall, I remember it as a lighthearted romp that was also one of the simplest JRPGs I’d ever played. A wee bit too easy, but then again, it WAS a kid’s game. Anyway, there were a couple of sequels released (in Japan only, of course) and the game got a nice reworking on the Nintendo DS that changed up the combat somewhat and can be found pretty cheap online if you know where to look.

Anyway, I’m not her to raise a “gotcha” game ruckus about this at all – just pointing out a fact or two in case you’re wondering about this sort of stuff. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how Mickey looks in HD and plays with the Move setup here, that’s for sure…

“Prometheus Has Landed” Clip: Hey, You’re Too Early! Get Back Up There, Now!

Posted on May 14, 2012 by geelw

Ha ha and ha. I saw the title in my inbox and thought I somehow fell into a time warp. Well, given that my PC thinks it’s a new PC and I’m still changing or recovering old passwords, I guess it IS a time warp of sorts. Anyway, I’ll be back later. This is going to be a long day….

Oh, Hell… It’s Diablo III!

Posted on May 14, 2012 by geelw

To make my Monday even more a kick in the pants, I get a retail copy of Diablo III (whee!) that I can’t play for a few reasons (booo!). However, unlike the Windows debacle I’m currently dealing with, i actually have a plan B that I set in motion a while ago so I can actually play the game using a friend’s PC at his place. Fortunately, I hooked him on Diablo II a while back and as he’s not what you call a “core” gamer, he’s happy that he’ll get to be see what all the fuss is about (and eventually play the game himself, as he’s in no tearing hurry to be a day one fanatic). Anyway, there’s nothing I can do now except wait until the servers go live. Too bad the game can’t be installed and played offline (as it should, grrr). Hell, I’d at LEAST have a single player review up by the end of the week if that were the case…

Microsoft, I Hate You Quite A Lot More Now…

Posted on May 14, 2012 by geelw

OK, this means war. Or something. I didn’t ask for an automatic update that wiped my desktop clean by moving all my work into assorted folders, killed my custom wallpaper off and nearly gave me a heart attack when I turned my computer on only to see a mere eight icons and that stupid landscape staring back at me. But that’s the easy thing to fix.

Why I hate you deeply now is the fact that you also wiped my Internet browsers CLEAN, including all my bookmarks PLUS all the passwords that I’ve had for years (and changed a few times too many) or recently updated. So, Instead of working on new game posts, I get to waste all day digging up passwords or making new ones. Feh.

Double Fine Adventure Episode One: They Still Want Your Money. And They’re Going To Get It, Too…

Posted on May 13, 2012 by geelw

Now with PayPal! Yup, even though about 3.3 million dollars was raised so for, a LOT of people who wanted to get in on the Kickstarter thing couldn’t because the wanted to go the PayPal route. Now, you can indeed not only get a copy of the game if you have an account there, you’re also getting access to the dev diaries as they’re released and you can start posting your thoughts and such in the game’s contributors forums. Nice!

Sorcery Developer Diary Update: The Sound Of Music (And Sound, Too)…

Posted on May 13, 2012 by geelw

It should be an interesting E3 this year for SCEA and Sorcery, now that the little game that most impressed me when the Move was first announced (even though it was a SUPER early demo version) is finally getting ready for its retail close up. Here’s a look at the music and sound design this time, both of which are coming along just fine, if this clip is any indication. My Move wand and Navigation controller are hopping from the anticipation, is all I’ll say…

Gravity Daze Japanese Commercials: The Vita’s Soon To Hit Must-Have Hit, No Matter Where You Are…

Posted on May 13, 2012 by geelw

Every time I see one of these ads or more images in a magazine or website, I start wishing that the Vita had launched with this game and a few others not here just yet. Then, perhaps some of this angst and negativity I’m seeing on certain other sites just wouldn’t be there about the platform. For those who have short attention spans (about 90% on the Internet), we went through this SAME nonsense with the 3DS last year and look what happened with that handheld (huge sales and faster than expected, at that according to Nintendo). Well, E3 is next month, so hopefully SCEA has a big fat (and well-thought out) plan to squash the dopes spitting out silly opinions that have no basis in reality. Me, I like my reality altered all the time I’m gaming, but that’s about it.

Two more ads below the jump…

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Is Game of Thrones Another Euro-Sleeper RPG Hit? I Think So…

Posted on May 12, 2012 by geelw

Oops. Until today, I had no idea that Cyanide Studios had been working on their upcoming RPG, Game of Thrones on and off for about seven years (yes, even before the mega-hit TV show was around, this one was in the pot cooking away). As you’ll can see from the video link, the dev team members are not only huge fans of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire, they’ve done the smart thing and not based their story on the books or HBO series. Crafting an original tale and spending quality time tinkering away on things for so lone, THEN going in to add in some familiar faces plus a multi-path dialog system takes some dedicated work that deserves a play through or two (or more). Well, I guess we’ll see how the game is next week -I’m looking forward to seeing how well it fits into what’s already in place…