Game of Thrones 3:6 Recap/Inside The Episode: It’s Torture (But We’re Almost There)…

So, after by brain tanked out on me on Sunday thanks to my over-thinking stuff while I should have been just watching the show, I watched the episode again last night and it still did seem a bit oddly paced thanks to a few too many surprises dropping out of nowhere and the continuing torture scenes that need a KNOCKOUT resolution for all the build up going on. That’s not a bad thing at all, though. In retrospect, some things just happening the way they did shows how random and unpredictable life is in that crazy world where everyone’s scheming to get over on someone else (with often drastic consequences) and the slower-moving ones get crushed by the juggernaut of fate, which is mighty tall and indeed, heavy as you’d think (times ten). Well, the next few episodes should make for some eye-popping (or finger and other body part mangling) moments as everything comes to a head. Suspense is highly underrated as a commodity on TV these days.

(Well, at least I think so, as someone who hates all this second screen nonsense and trolling the Internet for clues as to what’s going to happen. I say treat the show like a surprise party and yes, you’ll actually BE surprised…)

Class of Heroes 2 Pre-Sales Now Live (Via Amazon ONLY, Unfortunately!)…

COH2_smallWhile it’s absolutely great to see Gaijinworks finally get this game out in a GREAT physical/digital pack for a measly $36.99 (with shipping!), the SOLE payment option (Amazon, via credit card ONLY, no Amazon credits, sorry!) means folks like me who don’t use credit cards are going to be holding out longer for the digital-only (boo!) PSN version to ship before we can actually buy this one.

Sure, I get that it’s much easier for the company to set up and deal with than multiple payment types (and those assorted fees they’d need to pay, plus PayPal’s stupid in general manner of doing business), but it also means they’re not going to see those pre-sales sell as fast as they should at the end of the day.  So yeah… so much for that convenient Paypal option for those of us stuck with money burning a hole in our accounts or anyone with Amazon credit looking to polish that off.

Griping aside, a poke around the forums reveals that the game seems to be pre-selling well enough that Vic Ireland isn’t sweating the loss of a few cranky jerks like me who want to throw him our money but can’t – yet. Still, I hope to hell that we see some way we can get the game without paying a shit-mint on eBay for. And of course, there are people already “selling” the game there when it hasn’t even been produced yet. Well, a fool and his money are sooner parted than later, right? Anyway, looks as if I’ll have to “settle” for a digital version when the game is released.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Building Character – An Important Life Skill In Games, Too…

Here’s more for NeoCore Game’s upcoming action/RPG that’s shaping up to be a huge and very-well polished indie sleeper hit worth grabbing when it launches on May 22, 2013. Hopefully, this will do well enough to get ported to more platforms, as there’s nothing like a good chase ‘n chop to wile away the hours and get caught up in all the loot you’ll rack up as you stack up the monster corpses. As usual, we shall see, but I’ll predict that is this one shows up as bug-free as possible and doesn’t require a new PC to run, it’ll be a must-play among genre fans…

Random Film of the Day*: Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

* Nope, this isn’t a permanent format change, folks. For the next week or so plus, I’m going to add a random film the great Ray Harryhausen worked on. The legendary special effects MASTER passed away today at age 92 in London and yes, the film world owes him more than they can ever repay.

JatA_posterForget about today’s overblown CG effects, many of which make modern movies worse than better. Ray’s best work was all about blending fantasy into the assorted realities of the worlds he created and transporting viewers to places and making them forget about the outside world for about an hour and a half or so.

Jason and The Argonauts was the sixth collaboration between Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer and for many (including Ray), his best film. As a kid, this was one of the stapes of my TV diet, and as I grew older, finding out just how much work Harryhausen sunk into each film he worked on made me realize the man deserved his “legend” status as well as a the director’s credit denied him by Hollywood’s arcane rules… Continue reading

FUSE “Hired Guns” Trailer: Well, The Demo Is Free, So They’re Really Not Hired (Yet)…

Today’s the big day for Insomniac’s FUSE in terms of the gaming public finally getting a great demo to blast through on PSN and Xbox Live. I’ve been a fan of the game since I got some hands-on time late last year, but the project has been a bit of a gripe-fest for some fans of the developer who didn’t like the visual change from its initial reveal as Overstrike and the made-up rumors that EA “made” the team change the game to a modern-looking “gritty” shooter just to sell more copies. Every game goes through a few redesigns before the final product ships, so I give Ted Price and company the first and last word on the game’s visuals and gameplay (which by the way, are both solid). Anyway, if you’ve got a PS3 or 360 humming in your home, drop everything and go give that demo a shot. Insomniac certainly won’t mind the feedback once you’re all done, that’s for sure…

The Double Fine Humble Bundle: Today’s “Must Buy” Deal!

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Hey, it’s my birthday today, so you know what you can do for me? No? Well, get YOURSELF some of the best damn games you’ll ever play and thank me later, that’s what! Yeah, I don’t ask for much, but you can’t go wrong with this latest Humble Indie Bundle because it’s ALL about Double Fine Studios and their great games. Ok, you don’t need to do this TODAY, as this awesome offer expires in 13 days, 21 hours and 25 minutes as I type this out. Anyway, what’s in the digital box you ask? A jump below the jump reveals all… Continue reading

AMC’s The Killing Returns (And Those Who Hate Thinking Will Hate It. Again.)…

I really liked AMC’s The Killing because it wasn’t yet another a cut and dried 47-minute police procedural show where everything got wrapped up nicely at the end of each episode with the killer getting his or hers with witty catch-phrases from some overpaid superstars. In fact, having its single case last not one, but TWO gloomy seasons practically doomed the show with the CSI and other sillier crime shows crowd, but for people like me who like complexity in their stories and characters, I found the show quite enjoyable even when it made a few mistakes. That said, I thought it was dead forever after the critical and viewer drubbing it got during the last season by some writers and viewers, but thankfully AMC is getting it together with an all-new case and some intriguing-looking teasers.

Granted, it’s the “Oooh, the big baaad serial killer” thing that’s the trend now in some other new and old crime shows,, so there’s the risk of (wait for it…, waaaait for it…) overkill (ba-dum-bum!), but I think the writers here can pull it off quite well. As usual, we shall see, right?