Star Trek: Into Darkness Teaser #2: Or: On Funding More Dream Therapy For J.J. Abrams…

 

Hmmmm… Does J.J. Abrams have the same scary dream about falling every night? Seriously. I haven’t seen so many people jumping off high places into certain doom in a trailer in a while. OK, well… that silly trailer to the last Die Hard flick was lousy with stupidly impossible to survive jumps, but I’ll catch the full film once it hits cable and see if that’s just one sequence split into a few parts for the trailer edit. Still, I just laugh away merrily now when I see one of J.J.’s flicks because I’m EXPECTING someone to do a running jump off of something tall and into an action sequence. Of course, if there’s a big gust of air that carries the jumping human bean UP and onto something else for a one point safe landing as a cool twist, I’ll be even more thrilled. Well, as thrilled as one could be from seeing the same sequence repeated in a few different films. Anyway, nice teaser here, right? I say go pay to see this just so the director can eventually pay his way through therapy and find out what this falling fetish is all about.

Capcom Arcade Trivia: “Did You Know…” You Don’t Need A Coin Drop On Your TV To Play These?

 

No big prizes for knowing this stuff already, folks… BUT if you hadn’t a clue before, now you know AND there’s the whole side benefit of looking and sounding REALLY cool to your geek buddies who think you need to play more games. Or something like that. Video game history is pretty awesome at the end of the day no matter how you look at it, I say. Capcom Arcade Cabinet is out NOW for the PS3 (via PSN) and Xbox 360 (via XBLA). It’s possibly coming to other platforms, but you didn’t hear it here. Yet.

Shadowrun Returns Alpha Gameplay: First Look At The Return of a RPG Classic

 

shadowrun_preordersMore proof that the best crowd-funded games do indeed make it into production once they grab huge sums of money, here’s a long look at a tiny chunk of what hardworking indie developer Harebrained Schemes (yes, that’s their name!) has cooked up so far with the $1,836,447 backers ponied up on Kickstarter. In addition, even if you happened to miss out on the big pledge drive, you can still pre-order the game in three affordable different configurations at prices ranging from $15 to $75 for PC, OSX and Linux-based computers. With an expected release window of sometime this summer (May/June 2013), as well as gameplay that’s decidedly old school (and great looking) 2D turn-based RPG in a cyberpunk setting (and you get a level editor to fool around with, to boot), it looks as Shadowrun Returns will be one of those cool indie games that makes a few “best of” lists once gamers get their hands on it…

Lost Planet 3 Cover Art: More Focus on the Man Than Machine (Is A Good Thing)…

Lost Planet 3 PS3lostplanet 3 360Given the major focus on the story and characters in the game (which is a PREQUEL and not a sequel, numbering aside) and the great-looking in-engine movies that feature some great motion capture work, Capcom deciding to make the cover of Lost Planet 3 look like an advertisement for Space Road Truckers or some other future Discovery Channel series is wiggling the already bent antennae of some fans of the franchise the wrong way. I rather like the cover, but I initially thought they’d go with a similar cover design to the previous two games. Then again, once the game is actually played by the skeptics (some of the same folks who bashed DmC for too long before realizing they were completely WRONG about it), I’m sure the bile will settle down a bit more. So far, Capcom is batting ahead of the fan curve this year (at least in my book)…

Despicable Me 2 Toy Profile of the Week (3): Three Really Hard Working Minions

Action Figure Baker (Custom) Action Figure Fireman 1 (Custom) Action Figure Fireman 2 (Custom)

A baker and two firemen are this week’s D2 toys
Like the rest covered here, they’re for girls or for boys
They also make possibly the most perfect fit
(keep reading below for some well-placed wit)

That baker Minion might make a tasty treat
But his skills with the stove sure bring up the heat!
The smoke alarm’s wailing, here come the red trucks
But as they pull up, from the oven he plucks…
a perfect muffin or two (they taste really sweet)
But the entire house has burned to the street!

Pictured, three more Collectible Action Figures from the upcoming Despicable Me 2 toy line (2”-3.5”), Age: 4+; Approximate Retail Price: $4.99 – Available starting in May at a retailer near you.

Defiance: Arkhunter Chronicles 3 & Weapons Modifications: More Fictional Fat For The Fire

 

With that April launch rolling up sooner than you think, Trion Worlds and syfy continue to let loose more and more fun Defiance lore and game info. Here’s the third Arkhunter Chronicles video and below that, a look at some of the many weapons you can modify to your tastes in the game. Sure,it’s no Borderlands 2 with it’s bazillions of guns, but there’s more than enough here to keep the fans busy for quite some time. Speaking of… as I’ve been saying for some time now, the game looks really fantastic and plays as smooth as silk. At this point, it’s really all up to the show to hook the skeptics in (as in,it BETTER be great from episode one) and get them to plunk down that AAA game price for what’s looking to be one of the big deal potential Game of the Year candidates if everything comes together as all are hoping…

 

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: Starbreeze’s Fantasy Fairy Tale Coming to PSN, XBL, Steam This Spring

Brothers_Logo

 

And just exactly what has Starbreeze Studios been up to these days you ask? Well, the busy and super-talanted developer has been collaborating with Swedish film director Josef Fares on an upcoming digital-only fantasy game headed for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Steam this spring and published by 505 Games. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons lets you control a pair of siblings with a single controller as they try to find a cure for their ailing father in a nicely detailed stylized fantasy world. Check out the teaser above and the short walkthrough clip below to see how the game will play. This one looks quite cool and hopefully will gain a strong following and not get buried in the rather large online game libraries on PSN, Xbox Live and Steam. As always, we shall see…

 

Brothers1 Brothers2 Brothers3 Brothers4 Brothers5

Evil Dead TV Spot: “Everything’s Fine”… Unless You’re A Character In This Film…

 

“The joint is jumpin’… it’s really jumpin’…”

That’s because the damn house is HAUNTED, Fats. Nasty ol’ evil Book of the Dead ring any bells for you? No? Hmmm… let me explain it a bit better in English: Get the h-e-l-l off that damn piano and make a run for the door, big man.

OK, I’m not one for ridiculous over-hype, but this flick just may be worth the bother to drag my tired butt down to the local cinema to catch. I keep flipping the usual mental coin about more and more movies and usually (since I use a two-headed coin) I end up waiting for the cable premiere. As my LAST coin toss saw my trick quarter fly out a window never to be seen again, I have to judge things more like everyone else. So far, it’s been going well, so we’ll see how this turns out. I have no huge expectations going into this, but I just may pack a pair of extra underwear and pants just in case…

Game of Thrones Season 3 Vlogs: Behind the Scenes (Before The Scenery’s All Chewed Up)…

 

Annnnd while you’re camped out in front of the TV for Season 3 of GoT to fire up your living room (or wherever you watch this show), Here’s a peek at some making of video logs, but I’m not FORCING you to watch these, you know. Hell, you may already have seen them if you’re one of those fans of the show scouring the Internet for every scrap of info. Hey, I try here at DAF, I try. And all without charging you a red cent! Just doing my job, folks… just doing my job…

 

Two more below the jump… Continue reading

Random Film of the Week: STARCRASH (The Adventures of Stella Star)

 

Italian cinema has brought forth plenty of classic films and directors of assorted skill levels from Fellini to Leone, Argento, Bava and more, but Luigi Cozzi (or Lewis Coates, his “Americanized” name) deserves a special place in the hearts of a certain group of cinema fans. Known for doing relatively quick and cheap knock-offs of popular sci-fi and fantasy films, there’s a certain bizarre charm to his “major” genre works that demands repeat viewings. That and hell, if you ever have a toothache and want to forget all about the pain, you can count on a few of Cozzi’s films to make you do just that. Then again, you may just injure some other body part when you roll off a couch or chair laughing. STARCRASH is one such film and for some, the movie they saw in theaters when Star Wars seating was unavailable during that film’s long run (I recall it playing for about a year in some spots) or 1978 reissue. I was one of those people and I don’t think I’ve ever recovered from the experience… but I have gained a bit more appreciation for this offbeat mess over the decades. Continue reading