Wassup, rockers? You should be able to stroll into that favorite game emporium at any point from now and pick a copy of BandFuse: Rock Legends up in your hot little hands for that PS3 or Xbox 360 you still own OR you can snag a copy via a quick order from any one of a few online shops. If Realta has that no-lag thing down solid on both consoles, they’ll have the best guitar “game” out there as far as the total pick up and play experience with no messy unlocking to do in order to get to the fun and fancy harder content. Granted, for newbies, the ONLY way to learn is step by step and at your own pace and the software absolutely allows for that as well. Will this be the new Twang Bar King or headed straight to the cutout bin? We shall see, folks… we shall see…
That said, I think it’s a smash hit in the making, folks…
It’s the brilliant writing, folks… but the excellent stylized visuals (done in the style of the award winning comic) aren’t bad at all. 2012’s best game by many accounts is coming back from the undead as a complete package with the 400 Days DLC and some nice bonuses and yes indeed, although I have the disc version AND the PSN downloads, I’ll be picking this GOTY edition up simply out of habit (well, that and I haven’t yet gotten the 400 Days content update since my PS3 currently isn’t connected to PSN). Trust me, if you haven’t played this yet and know someone with a PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 who doesn’t yet have this one, get it for them (well, make sure they’re 18 or over first!) and stick around to watch them play. Bet you’re sucked in right from the opening moments and you stick around to see what happens and who makes it through those chapters in one piece (or close to one piece)…
Hey! Stop that whining that you don’t own one of those fancy new online tethered “Maybe she no-a work out of the box! for a few reasons” new consoles, kids! You can play BOTH of these new titles on what you already own and be happy (and definitely happier if you kept that PS3 around if your PS4 is blue-light bricking itself up the living room), so I say GET HAPPY!
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW! is out NOW on the “old” Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Wayforward Technologies (the current KINGS of modern retro gaming on many fronts. RESPECT!). Old-school top-down action RPG action. Kinda like Gauntlet, but kinda NOT like Gauntlet (there’s no coin drop on you TV and the game isn’t like Gauntlet once you play it). One to four players. Sort of has drop in-drop out co-op play (so your friends can faint at the sight of a boss and you can keep going, darn them!). Rated E10+ (but most of you AT fans are much older than 10+, I bet). Yeah, you need this one yesterday, I say.
Young Justice Legacy is also out NOW for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS and PC (via Steam). New developer Freedom Factory takes a page from the still hugely popular Marvel Ultimate Alliance games with this fun one to three player action RPG that takes place between Seasons 1 and 2 of the seemingly now defunct cartoon series. Sure, the stylized visuals aren’t screaming 2013 at you, but this is one of those games that works if you love the fast-paced super-heroic stuff and aren’t overly judgmental about every game being a showpiece of visual techniques. From my playtime with a demo, solo play can be tough in some spots if you’re careless and rush into fights, so grab a friend or two and a couple of extra controllers (have your friends bring theirs, I say) and get the fist to face action going.
Yeah, you’ll need to invite them over as this (and Adventure Time) don’t have any online modes (not sure about the Steam version, but it’s good that I DON’T KNOW! – yet). Good, I say – people need to play MORE together in the same room because it makes them be MORE social. How so? Hey, if you have to bathe for company and maybe clean up a little… THAT’S making yourself MORE social. Get it? Got it? GOOD. Now go hit the pavement for some exercise and retail therapy. Class dismissed!
Even as a kid, the opening credits to Speed Racer had me cracking up each time I saw Speed pretty much commit cartoon vehicular homicide on a daily basis when he rammed a fellow driver through a guard rail and sent him sailing off the track and crashing into the background (check out that evidence above). What I didn’t know at that time was that was the US version of the credits and in Japan, Speed was even more of a merry murderer. Granted, the other guys he kills in the original opening sequence below kind of deserve it for shooting at him and his shiny, gadget-packed Mach 5 (do you know how much it costs to replace that fancy curved windshield?). But I’d have simply dialed up the track police or something, pointed my car cam their way and shown what was happening rather that destroy a priceless fossil and kill them outright.
Of course, the body count on that old anime was hilariously large in just about every race to the point that I’m surprised whatever body that sanctioned those events wasn’t sued by next of kin and spectators who may have been “wiped out” in a wreck or by flaming debris flying into the stands. Just Google up “Mammoth Car” and see what I mean. I’d post part of that episode here, but I don’t want you kids up past your bedtimes. It IS a school night, you know…
I missed posting this video last week, but here you go. I rather like that Nintendo really doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what the competition is doing in terms of new console launches – they want you to focus on what THEY have in store for you as a loyal Nintendo gamer first and foremost (even if you also own one or more of the competition’s products). They follow the beat of their own drummer, tossing out titles when they want to (despite screwing up royally by not having a Pokemon or Animal Crossing on the Wii U as launch or launch window titles for some instant sales and cash for their coffers). Anyway, as you’ll see in this half-hour or so of game trailers, gameplay and house organ playing, the company still has it where it counts at least on the 3DS front and that Wii U you’re not owning yet or is near your TV playing with the dust bunnies is nowhere NEAR “dead”. Keep the faith and keep on gaming is the message here as the holiday season (and 2014) rolls around for Nintendo. I think they’ll have a few surprises for fans old and new as that new year progresses, and while what’s in this video is excellent, I’d say they seem to be keeping the best stuff well under wraps (for the moment, at least)…
So, did you hear the one about the people who want to do a sequel to “It’s A Wonderful Life” getting an internet sized hobnailed boot thrown at them for even deigning to think of such an outrage? Neither did I, as that could be disaster flick was only just announced. That’s one reason why Bad Santa and A Christmas Story have long since replaced that well-known and beloved classic as my favorite holiday movies.
Yeah, yeah, there’s also been a sequel announced for the former (but nothing has appeared to date)while the latter has become a “must-see” holiday show for tourists coming here to New York City, but Terry Zwigoff’s mean-spirited, outrageously funny masterpiece grabs your Yuletide wishes by the short hairs, yanks hard and starts punching everywhere so hard that you may find yourself crawling around looking for your eyeballs under the table they rolled under after they pop out a few too many times… Continue reading →
Oops! I’ve been SO busy that I forgot to plug my own work elsewhere. Well, it’s HERE you’ll bounce back to when you click my reviews of Indestructible Man and The Defiant Ones, but you beans and banes can do with some other reading on the two Chaneys and their fine bodies of work, I say. Enjoy!
Well, it’s the forth and final day of our celebration of the great CHANEYS! And it’s been quite a turn out.
I’ll be taking it from here as host but my brilliant & witty co-host will be lurking around helping to showcase all the fantastic contributions. We’re so pleased with how the event has gone and grateful to all of you who either contributed, helped tout or chimed in to show love to two memorable men and support us… unflinching Blogathon mistresses’ who pulled this all together!
I want to especially thank Fritzi of Movies Silently for quietly asking me months ago if I’d like to help co-host this event. I was flattered and honored and as excited as Quasimodo hanging from a gargoyle on the side of that Cathedral! Although my hump is much smaller.
So without any further asides from yours truly- Please stay seated as here’s the…
(thanks, tszwedo!)
Ladies and gentlemen, a friendly little reminder. Or not. Being a not so hunk of aged whine and cheese like me has its benefits, provided you’ve learned a few life lessons before old bad habits get set in stone and leave you a friendless freak trapped in a world you never made (or choose to ignore at your peril). It’s important while young to make enough mistakes you can take something from as you limp home, dragging the remains of your dignity behind you (or carrying it if it’s not too heavy) and determining you’ll not steer down that path ever again. Of course, if you’ve lost your dignity already, you know the drill: wake up in a field somewhere, drag yourself home and go sleep it off in a closet somewhere while the parts that can grow back do so…
On the other hand, if you’re a constant thrill-seeking type who has that sort of cheery support from friends and relatives who put up with your daredevil shenanigans, of course you should go for whatever gusto you can, secure in the knowledge that when you fall, that net is coming out to cushion the hard landing you’re about to take (again). Granted, I think I’m being vague here (as usual), but consider this some sort of not so Zen-like advice from me to you that may come in handy at some point in your actual beautiful career (aka: LIFE) when you’re about to jump into something like a strange car with a bunch of oddballs you’d normally avoid in the daytime hours. Now, I’m not saying there’s ANYTHING wrong at all with a little adventure, kids. I just want to make sure you’re smart enough to come back at some point and tell me about it over a pint somewhere…
These days, I’m not much of a loyal Tom Cruise fan, but I happen to like some films he’s in when the cast around him gets to do some decent work around his not so silent takeover method of acting. That said, 2005’s War of the Worlds is pretty much Stephen Spielberg’s film to win or lose as he puts Cruise, the rest of the cast, some stellar visual effects and a mostly tensely coiled John Williams score to work in this updated version of the classic H.G. Wells science fiction story.
Save for some overuse of the “Hollywood escape” and still not yet patented Cruise running style in scenes where plenty of extras get vaporized or otherwise killed as the actor and his movie kids make a few too many narrow escapes (at least for the first part of the film) and a wee bit too much allegory on the director’s part, this is a solid little movie that still packs a bit of a punch… Continue reading →
No, not those popular (but slipping in sales as of late) fruit-named hi-tech devices of many uses, but the more popular (and slipping off a tree branch, so get with the dodging, Newton!) fruit that makes some great pies, sauce, leather and other stuff you might not enjoy if other things were labeled as such. Crow pie is terrible, Kudzu sauce? Nasty! Llama leather? Awful AND it makes you seriously gassy! Anyway, next week should be pretty hard on Whovians who haven’t yet invested in that digital delay device or happen to have BBC America on their Free on Demand service in case they miss anything thanks to actual work or play activities. My own schedule suggests I’ll be playing catch up unless I go and “EXTERMINATE!” a few tasks early. I probably won’t break my routine all that much, as that tends to do nothing but make time holes in a few areas where I don’t need them (or have had to do a simple patch job that doesn’t need any further fiddling.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 