E3 2013: The Walking Dead – 400 Days Trailer: Telltale Returns To More Gory Adventure Glory


 

Last year’s release of Telltale Games’ superb adventure game, The Walking Dead showed that there’s more life to the adventure genre than some critics and jaded gamers thought. The episodic horror hit garnered a number of Game of the Year nods and awards from all over the map and for its compelling narrative and its multiple path-driven gameplay and despite some gore and violence (that served the story, mind you) it seems many people who weren’t into gaming per se wanted to play this for the plot. Anyway, the game did well enough that of course, a new set of downloadable stories on the way and based on this trailer (and the pile of “Best of Show” awards the game has gotten, The Walking Dead – 400 Days looks to be more of the same great and frightening descent into a world gone completely insane. The key in both the last series and this one is it’s less about the zombies and more about those still living affected by them and those who may or may not die based upon the player’s actions.

TWD_400 Days

In an interesting move, developer Skybound Entertainment is giving players five stories in one DLC episode this time out and the game is also set to hit multiple platforms (PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Xbox Live Arcade), meaning more will be playing it at the same time if the release date for all of those systems lines up. All those positive press vibes will be great for the developer and publisher as well as fans of the comic and TV series who want more (and GOOD) licensed content that stays true to the source material. I’m already practicing my reflexes, as those conversation-based timed events and action scenes can indeed be as scary as the story making your spine rattle. Back with more on this one soon…

Random Film of the Week(end): Twitch of the Death Nerve/(A) Bay of Blood/Carnage

Thanks, Attack From Planet B!

TotDN_PosterOne problem some of us cranky genre fans have with most of today’s Hollywood horror movies is too many of them end up with ridiculous plots, under-written, one dimensional (as in terminally dumb), sometimes nude characters going through the same ridiculous motions that get them bumped off in even more ridiculous and bloody ways at intervals you can set your watch to most of the time. Not to mention stuff like some inane product placement that makes those parts of the film seem like ads dropped in between kills for stuff that would kill you if you consume too much of it.

Oddly enough, all this and more makes Mario Bava’s seminal gore classic Twitch of the Death Nerve (or (A) Bay of Blood, Carnage, or Blood Bath or one of many other titles it’s been released as) one of my favorite “B” horror films. Maybe it’s the blinders-on Bava fan in me that makes me like this one so much (some awesome shots aside, it’s far from his best work), or maybe it’s because the movie is actually kind of (alright, REALLY) funny in a very twisted way. The story is nuts with most of its assorted beautiful, handsome or unattractive characters motivated by their greed and/or assorted desires becoming random targets (and I mean random in some cases) of a killer (or killers) with their own agendas. By the end when the bodies are laid out all over the island, none of it makes any sense because the ending literally and figuratively blows away the remaining bits of the paper-thin plot.
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Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Gets All Post-E3 Geeky This Weeky…

NBCCONFESSION! OK, kitties, I don’t watch Late Night except for rare occasions when I’m flipping by or I hear Jimmy is doing something video game related. He’s a huge kid about gaming and you can definitely see that natural enthusiasm show when he gets all wide-eyed, grinny and spazzy like an eight year old on Xmas buzzed on sugar cookies and hot chocolate ripping open presents as he puts assorted titles through their paces in segments that practically guarantee nice sales of whatever he’s super-thrilled about. Of course, game publishers really LOVE the guy (even when he pokes fun at their products a bit) and I’m sure his millions of fans who aren’t into gaming see and mark down potential future holiday or otherday gifts for the gamers in their lives.

It actually WOULD be nice for me as a Noo Yawkuh to be able to go see thew show live this week instead of sitting on my butt at home, but hey – those tickets are hard to some by and even though I’m probably MORE of a gaming fool than Fallon, I’d still have to send in a request and hope away that I snag tix on a night he’s actually doing something game related. With my luck, he’ll have some overexposed “celebrity” or “reality” show boob on the night I get to go and I’ll have to restrain myself along with other audience members from throwing tomatoes and shoes… woosh, POW!!!

Anyway, and if you want to try and get on the show in video form at least, ring up your mom, get a console and a camera and you can earn some Internet immortality… below the jump, you must go. Press release for the show’s week of post-E3 gaming fun are there as well…

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