Random Indie Game of the Week: DreadOut

DreadOut gal

DreadOutAmusingly and ironically enough, one of the scariest work-in progress games I’ve played this year comes from a developer named Digital Happiness. Based out of Indonesia, this small studio is in the process of polishing up their first game, DreadOut, a nicely frightening homage to Tecmo’s criminally neglected Fatal Frame series with a modern (and optionally social) twist.

DH is using the extremely versatile Unity game engine, a wonder tool for a number of small to large studios that can pump out some fantastic visuals the can be scaled to run an a wide range of computers and devices. The speed at which this has come together combined with the quality of the work is pretty astonishing. I believe Digital Happiness happens to be in the CG animation business or something, and you can see this in the character art, animation and general pleasingly realistic style of the visuals.
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Orphan Black Season One: I Hope Tatiana Maslany Has A Lot of Shelf Space…

If you missed out on BBC America’s incredible sci-fi drama series Orphan Black because you were unsure about whether or not it would be any good, go find out how to (legally) check this show out and prepare to be amazed. Maslany’s portrayal of (so far) seven different cloned characters is amazing, especially in scenes she shares with herself (through some excellent CG effects and body doubling). It’s not just the different hairstyles, wigs and makeup either. Each of the clones has a separate personality and life which the actress does a remarkable job of portraying to perfection.

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Random Film of the Weekend (Too): Time After Time

(thanks, warnervod!) 

time after timeAmusingly enough, this RFoTW post was going to be about Somewhere in Time, but I’d mistakenly typed in Time After Time as the title of that film when doing a search for the poster, looked at the results and remembered that while SoT is indeed a fine (and highly underrated) gem, TAT is more pure fun to watch and does a few more interesting things with its characters and plot as it takes them from past to present.

Adding some unique twists to the time travel and Jack the Ripper mythologies, it combines mystery, drama, action and romance with bits of comedy that work despite some first time director flaws in the ointment. Oh, and it’s a grand little science fiction film that works because you’re sucked in so quickly and completely forget the fantastic elements being so farfetched thanks to the story, characters and direction making it so real…
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Game of Thrones 3:10 Preview: Real Party Poopers and More Deep S#!t…

Well… jeez. I had a bunch of Wedding Crashers jokes prepared when that banquet sequence began, but those went to The Honeymoon Killers jokes in rapid succession and then no jokes by the time things were done. That was rough. Hey, any episode of a show with no music during the end credits is a bad sign. Well, they DID say this season was going to have a lot of characters killed off, but wow, unemployment checks for a good chunk of the Starks? Well, raise a cup for a few “ghost” appearances, I say (you’re supposed to laugh, as it’s a pun on “guest” appearances. Ha and ha…)- Episode 10 should be even more of a knock to the skull, I bet. Still, it has to be noted that Ned Stark lost his head before the finale and we’re all still watching. Hell, at this rate, Arya’s going to be one pretty pissed off teenager with a long, long list of people to kill… if she’s even around by the time Season 4 kicks in.