FUSE Unboxing Video: This One Is At Least Intentionally Funny…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

In case you didn’t know, I really dislike unboxing videos. For me, it’s a waste of time, white cotton gloves when the person making the video is wearing them (and looking like a game usher!) and basically, the majority of the ones I’ve seen are just smug “look what I got” videos or just show off one big reason the industry is having issues with some AAA games that seemingly get overpriced Collector’s Editions for no really good reason but to be in someone’s unboxing video. Thankfully, Insomniac Games has read my mind and come up with the *ULTIMATE* in unboxing videos for their new PS3 and Xbox 360 game FUSE, set for release on May 28 (in the US) and May 31 (In Europe). I say just get me the game and I’ll play and enjoy it – no statues, comic books, CD soundtrack, artbook or other goodie necessary, as they won’t fit into my consoles anyway…

Metro: Last Light Ranger Survival Guide Trailer: McGuyver’s Got Nothing On Artyom…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

MLL_Logo

I actually recently (and FINALLY) completed the absolutely tense and brilliant Metro 2033 on a borrowed Xbox 360 (as the ones I own are dead as doornails, dammit) and it’s still one of the best and most frightening first-person games I’ve ever played. Between the destroyed Moscow landscape, the ruined tunnels survivors make do in and those dreadful mutations they fight against, there’s a great deal of details in that game and this follow-up, Deep Silver’s Metro: Last Light that make it a must-play experience. The fact that the game isn’t a straight up shooter and has elements of adventure and role-playing games while feeling downright frightening and depressing as your avatar, Artyom and his beat up survival gear barely make it through the radioactive hell makes it a keeper I’ll go back to again and again.

As I’ve said before, this game and a few others where so much thought and work has gone into crafting a world and characters you want to live with for a while are all the same to me like great novels are to someone who collects books. I’ve actually never read anything by Russian sci-fi author Dmitry Glukhovsky has written, but based on the near-flawless atmosphere these two games have, I just may be adding a new book or two to my already packed list. Thankfully, 4A Games is absolutely committed to making this a story-driven solo experience, so we won’t be saddled with mindless multiplayer modes of running around shooting each other in the face for no good reason than collecting XP and yelling obscenities over headset microphones. Besides, in this version of the future, you’re better off saving any ammo you can find and settling your differences with a a blunt or sharp object you can repair or replace afterwards…

Metro: Last Light hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 14, 2013, so if you’re looking for a bleak, purely terrifying slice of post-nuclear survival action, this is probably going to be your best bet for a good long while…

Iron Man 3 Clip 3: Flying The Unfriendly Skies (But You’ll Get A Snack At Least)…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

The funny thing about this clip is there’s always going to be that ONE guy in the theater when Iron Man 3 hits on May 3 with a slide rule and calculator taking measurements and tapping in numbers just so he can let out a mighty “A-HA!” afterwards and say that the scene was impossible because of the air to mass ratio times the advent of steam or something annoyingly dopey like that. People who do this at films where the goal is to sit down and let your brain enjoy the show for two hours drive me nuts. Applying arbitrary rules of reality to a genre flick such as this should get one immediately bounce ejected from a theater with a big box of Jujubes thrown at the back of that person’s head as they go sailing onto the pavement on a fresh bed of that nasty butter-flavored popcorn that’s sold at the concession stand. Yeah, it’s called a concession stand for a reason – you trade in your hard-earned bucks and in concession, you get some overly salty popcorn swimming in enough chemically laced oil to clog a whale heart. Yuck. Someone call up Tony Stark and ask him to invent a repulsor-powered organic only popcorn machine…

Game of Thrones Season 3:5 – Recap Time, Secrets Spilled (Well, Not So Much)…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

It’s actually pretty hilarious that we got a nice sharp shock at the end of that last episode and a nice low-key one-two punch this week. Hmmm… I can see a few weird weddings in the not too distant future… or perhaps not, given the tendency for things to go all sorts of wrong in Westeros these days. On the other hand, a certain house with the upper hand will no doubt be none to pleased that some of its members have been a wee bit incapacitated (well, permanently in two cases) by some not so nice folks. I can smell the scenery chewing from here and nope, I’d not want to be standing in the way of a certain ruler when he gets wind of what’s happened…

Meanwhile, there’s a dragon-led army stomping into either the last two or three episodes (or worse, Season 4), although I’m thinking that Dragonborn will need a few more troops, as a mere eight thousand might not cut it. Oh, we’ll see, we’ll see… I’m just playing devil’s advocate here, that’s all…

Pacific Rim WonderCon Trailer: Guillermo’s ‘Gundams’ Going Gold Gathering…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

I’d almost (but not quite) forgotten about this flick because it hasn’t has a dozen or thirty trailers and teasers that have been plastered all over the internet like clockwork. But here you go and it does look pretty insane. I’d bet Michael Bay is going to be seeing this one a few times, although Del Toro is sometimes known for endings that aren’t quite as cool as the effects he uses. That said, I’m not even going to pass an actual judgment on this giant robots versus giant monsters flick until I see it. Hopefully, the studio lets the director have final cut and doesn’t try to chop this down to something that makes you buy or rent the home video version just to see the stuff you should ave gotten when you bought that ticket. Well, as long as one of those sea creatures doesn’t bust out a giant can opener at some point, this one should be a winner…

Gallery: Lost Planet 3

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

It may be spring outside, but looking at these Lost Planet 3 screens makes me feel as if I’ve got my face stuck in the freezer and there’s no ice cream left – just a mean-looking alien with glowy bits and very sharp claws an teeth staring back (eek). Veteran developer Spark Unlimited is doing its best work to date, using the Unreal engine and some great motion captured actors to create a solidly stylized vision of the cold, bleak ball of ice covered rock that is E.D.N. III.

Working class hero Jim Payton isn’t the usual lantern-jawed hero with a hefty arsenal, bulletproof shorts and an ego as big as the planet he’s on at all. He’s just a regular guy who’s trying hard to make a living in a frozen hellhole with Akrid and perhaps a few pesky space pirates ruing his workday. I’ve been hooked in since I played a demo last year and with the first two multiplayer modes finally being revealed last week, it looks as if all the pieces are falling into place for a sleeper hit that will hopefully catch the skeptics by surprise.

Capcom’s Lost Planet 3 hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 27, 2013. Poke around below the jump for some more nice screens and artwork.

Oh, and put a hat and gloves on, dears – it’s COLD out there in space…

Continue reading →

Watch_Dogs “Out Of Control” Trailer: Still Off The Charts, Yet On Everyone’s Lists…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

By now you know that Ubisoft has a definite system seller and absolutely killer app with its upcoming multiplatform release Watch_Dogs (set for a November 19, 2013 launch), although I’m predicting a little “problem” of sorts coming when the game does ship out. I can see a segment of potential players of the eye candy diabetic variety NOT buying the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions at all because they’re getting a newer console and want to show off that new game on the best system possible. Of course, PC owners will be pooh-poohing THOSE gamers as losers because they’ll be upgrading THEIR gaming rigs with new cards that can run the game at 200 frames per second with all the latest shaders and effects up full blast. Me, I don’t care how I play this other than I’d prefer not to patch anything and get up and running no less than five or ten minutes after installing the game to my (flips coin) PS3’s hard drive. As I have the feeling that this is a game that requires a few play-throughs in order to experience everything, I don’t mind at all playing it one one console and then another.

Random FIlm of the Week: Love and Death

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

Love and Death poster Probably the most amusing thing about Woody Allen’s 1975 film Love and Death is how well it works despite practically hitting you over the head with how literate you need to be to get some of the best (and funniest) jokes. On the other hand, you don’t need to be a student of Russian literature or philosophy at all to nearly die laughing when Woody’s character, Boris, is trapped inside a gigantic lit cannon that rolls downhill during the big battle scene and fires him into a tent full of French officers, making him a temporary war hero of sorts.

There are a few other big laughs as well, but the bulk of the film’s humor springs from the one-two punch of Allen’s writing and flawless direction as he captures the moods of his put-upon characters as they go through their dramatically (and intentionally) dreary lives in 19th Century Russia. As bleak as that last sentence sounds, it’s one of Allen’s best comedies because it skewers its subject matter (and subjects) so well that you can’t help but laugh even when the worst is happening…
Continue reading →

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Random Screenshot of the Day: Missing!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by geelw

Well, this isn’t good at all. Today, a bunch of flyers started popping up all over Greenvale about Deputy Sheriff Emily Wyatt and how she’s gone missing. Hmmm. I’m hoping she’s OK, but I haven’t seen FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan (just call him York!) at all since he sped by in a car the other day. Anyway, I did see a bunch of tourists looking around in the woods for her, but that’s kind of a bad idea if they don’t know what they’re doing. If something DID happen to her and she’s out there, it would be awful if someone accidentally did something that would ruin any evidence or hinder a potential investigation. OK, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here. Maybe she’s just hurt in the woods or lost in that creepy old mine area…

Anyway, Emily is 26, about five feet six inches or so, has blonde hair and green eyes. Not that it matters, I hear she’s also not much of a cook and loves a good steak, but we’ve already checked the A&G Diner and Swery 65 Bar to see if she’s come in lately and nope, she’s not been to either spot. Sheriff George Woodman is also still missing, but he’s been known to disappear from time to time and show up at work as if nothing has happened…

You can come help look for Emily (and hope for the best) while trying to solve the Red Seeds Killer case when you play Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut, exclusively for the PlayStation 3 from Rising Star Games. Updated HD visuals, PlayStation Move and 3D TV support, over 100 improvements from the original game and more mean this is one of those games that will keep you busy for some time to come. Granted, a taste for the bizarre in your horror/humor hybrids games comes in handy, as this one will come at you in a few ways as you play through the adventure. Here’s a tiny fraction of what to expect:

I haven’t seen Game Director Swery 65 at all today, but then again, I haven’t exactly been looking for him, either. I think he may be out helping search for Emily, but as he’s pulling the strings in Greenvale (and has been from the beginning), he could just be taking the day off and having a decent nap for a change. At least the tourists are out in the woods and NOT keeping him up all hours of the night asking for autographs and game tips. That man should get a medal for what some fans have asked of him, but he takes it all in stride!

Doctor Who Revisited: Tom Baker Is MY Doctor (And He Doesn’t Charge A Thing)…

Posted on April 28, 2013 by geelw

I’m ancient enough to remember seeing Tom Baker as Doctor Who on PBS here and wondering what the hell was up with that scarf and crazy behavior. Of course, next week I was back for more and so forth and so on. I still think he’s the best of the Doctors (and Sarah Jane Smith was the best sidekick in my opinion), but of course, everyone has a favorite depending on when they stepped into the series. Hell, I’m old enough to remember those movies from the 60’s, but they didn’t leave much of an impression until I decided to sit down with them again about a year or so ago. Anyway, happy 50th, Doc!