Call Of Duty: Advanced War Blowout: Activision Breaks Out The Sledgehammer…

Posted on May 3, 2014 by geelw

Yes, the Call of Duty franchise is a multi-billion dollar winner for Activision’s coffers each year, but it’s also one of the more automatically reviled game series to some folks who think it’s more of the same each year. Activision seems to know this and has for a few years, so it’s shaking things up in a big way with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. While the game is also set to hit PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 4, 2014, it’s the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions that will be getting the most scrutiny. A three-year development cycle means the team at Sledgehammer is most likely looking to change up elements of the more than familiar gameplay and the added star power of Kevin Spacey in a central role (nope, you don’t PLAY as him, though). Videos ahoy, above and below with three teasy screens, all in-engine of course:

While I LOVE Vice as a news outlet, their getting caught up in this game here is a bit dicey on a few fronts. Oh well, I guess this whole concept of future war HAD to be addressed, but Blackwater getting a nod here? Yeesh. Anyway, I guess those guys still have their loyal supporters. Anyway, more actual game-related teasy-pleasy for you:

And YES, in case you’re interested, the pre-order madness has officially begun. All you need to do is click one of those links above with your wallet out and *ding!*, you add money to Activision coffers, get yourself a copy of the gae on launch day AND boost up the presale figures to potentially Guinness World Book of Records stats if you’re one of those folks that’s REALLY thrilled about a new CoD game and what that entails and wish to be part of that potential record.

As for me? I just want to see what the campaign looks and plays like, as I avoid multiplayer entirely in these types of military shooters. If the story is engaging and thrilling, I’ll even sink to playing this on my old fat PS3 which is still going quite strong after years of service. Anyway, if looks could kill, the next-gen visuals here would leave plenty of folks deceased in front of their monitors, shrinking the user base down by a significant amount (much to Activision’s displeasure). Thankfully, gorgeous screenshots have never (as far as I know) caused serious injury (or even minor ones), so I think Activision has found a great balance here that will make some commit to that new-gen console if they haven’t already made the move.

Back with more on this one soon…

So, It’s James Brown’s Birthday Today (Or You WILL Be Dancing At Some Point)…

Posted on May 3, 2014 by geelw

Yeah, I knew you needed a lift today, so here you go, lemon-face. Thanks to the always informative Professor Mortis over at The League of Dead Films for noting this in his excellent post today about Black Caesar, a film I absolutely NEED to write up as a Random Film of the Week or Week(end) soon. There’s nothing like a Larry Cohen flick when he’s in full-on guerrilla mode and this one’s a classic (despite the dubious idea of reviving a character who was killed dead in the first film, it works well as it is with all its unapologetic content intact). Anyway, Please, Please, Please enjoy this super Saturday, whatever you choose to do with it!

READS: Dark Horse Comics Offers Up Some Sweet Star Wars Deals For The Fourth…

Posted on May 3, 2014 by geelw

Click Me!

I’l bett you one whole Republic Credit that Dark Horse Comics doesn’t care a hoot that Disney has decreed only what it creates from now on as “canon” and hell, they don’t need to at all, as up until it was yanked from them, they’ve been doing up the Star Wars license pretty right all these many years. Anyway, to celebrate May the Fourth (Be With You), the company is offering up some excellent deals on digital downloads from the massive lineup of SW books it’s put out over the ages. Click away on each image to be transported to a galaxy far, far away (or more precisely, a server far, far away) where you can check out and pick up a ton (or whatever they weigh on your own planet) of books at great prices.

For you cheapskates or those new to the Star Wars visual reads thing, you can grab the first four issues of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Empire and Star Wars: Legacy absolutely free of charge. That’s TWELVE free issues! FREEEEE! You don’t even have to let the Wookie win here, as even Chewbacca knows what free means. Well, he WILL rip your arms out of their sockets if you interrupt him while he’s reading, though…

In terms of KOTOR, that particular series makes a grand jumping off point, as it’s derived from what some consider the best Star Wars video game ever created. I need to replay this once again, as it still holds up as a great example of a well-written game that’s also extremely fun to play to the point that it works as a wonderful introduction to console or PC role-playing games thanks to the well done tutorials that ease you into play during the opening sequence and make you feel comfortable with the mechanics by the time that first section is complete.

Anyway, let me shut up here and let YOU go grab some deals or at least something free to keep you occupied this weekend. Have a blast and “May the…” oh you know, you know!

Part Of My Weekend Plans Are Set…

Posted on May 2, 2014 by geelw

Yeah, yeah, yeah… TCM shows this a few times a year, but sometimes it’s just nice to own a movie if you happen to not want to rely on a channel (or worse, a streaming video service) to deliver the goods. There’s just something lovely and delicious about popping a disc into a player, sitting back and letting the film in question do its stuff and Bava’s horror classic certainly has PLENTY of stuff. I just find it amusing that as absolutely gorgeous as Barbara Steele was (and is, as she’s still with us, last I checked), in a number of her films, she’s buried under makeup that makes her look pretty horrific. But hey, that’s one reason she’s loved by many fans of classic horror flicks I guess.

As for Raiders, it was $2.50 new, I needed another copy and didn’t care if it was on Blu-Ray or not. I actually hadn’t seen it in a while and HATE watching it on AMC because of all those dumb interruptions and the picture quality is terrible to my eyes. One actually needs NO excuse to own this film, as it’s something you can pop on and loop all day as background noise while you’re doing stuff around the house. “I dunno, I’m making this up as I go!” may become your mantra after a day of this film, that’s for sure…

Sniper Elite III: Killing Vehicles Is A Bigger Part Of The Game As Well, Folks…

Posted on May 2, 2014 by geelw

While you could indeed shoot gas tanks and blow up cars and trucks in Sniper Elite V2, that X-Ray camera effect wasn’t used and while optional to some missions, you didn’t have to take out some rides if you didn’t want to. Granted, this made the game much harder if you had more Nazis to mow down, but some players relished that more unrealistic challenge. Anyway, as you can see above, no engine block or gas tank is safe in this installment. Rebellion’s Sniper Elite III, coming on from 505 Games in July, is bringing the pain with more not for the kiddies at all WWII action in an even bigger (and some would say *ouch!* ballsier) manner than before to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, XBOX One and most likely PC down the road a piece. War is Hell, indeed…

Terminator 2: Judgment Day “Dressing For Success”: Writers, Here’s How To Introduce Your Hero (#4 Of A Bunch)…

Posted on May 2, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, cromptonog1!)

This intro made and STILL makes me laugh a lot for a few reasons, chiefly the fact that James Cameron cheated himself a chance to make this a LOT funnier. How so? Well, he shortcuts Arnold into landing just EXACTLY where he needed to in order to deck himself out with spiffy leather togs (which is a great thing, don’t get me wrong). But ask yourself, folks… what would have happened if that formerly killer now nice-guy Terminator landed near a senior citizen’s home, a golf course, prison, or some other place where finding awesome clothing and a handy hot hog would have been next to impossible? That would have made for a definitely more amusing opening for sure, although yes, NO way as classic as this one is. Of course, if someone ever shows this post to Cameron, I’d bet I’m in for an earful and I’d sit there and take it, too. I think he’s got enough of a sense of humor to realize I’m just kidding around (heh).

And NO, kids… I didn’t forget Sarah Connor’s equally awesome introduction at all. I wanted to do her first, but couldn’t find a suitable clip on YouTube to use in the time I have today. I’ll get to her (and yes, other heroic ladies) as part of this series soon enough as I’d planned out to include ladies here from the get-go.

Ro, No You Didn’t NBC… But I’ll Try To Keep An Open Mind…

Posted on May 2, 2014 by geelw

So… this is actually happening and let’s just say my skin is crawling (and NOT from fear). Granted, the cast seems solid and veteran TV director Angiezka Holland is an excellent choice (her work on AMC’s The Killing, HBO’s The Wire and other shows shows she’s a master at her craft), but the original film is so (and still) perfect at what it does that even the best intended reworking will fall short by comparison. I may catch this when it runs, but why the hell is it playing on Mother’s Day? Yeah, I get the inherent humor here, but ha-ha, I know some people won’t like the idea of this being a way to end an otherwise fine holiday. Eh, my mom will probably watch it just because she was around to see the Polanski classic and I think she liked it a lot.

(Yeah, it LOOKS creepy… but sadly, by network standards ONLY)

The mini-series format and network not cable airing bugs me as well, but given that network TV has been approaching mild levels of cable-like content for a while now, I’m sure that this will deliver where it counts. That said, I definitely don’t like some saying this isn’t a remake because of the Parisian setting and whatever else has been changed from the book and original film. Zoe Saldana’s got a similarly skinny frame and has a variation on the haircut Mia Farrow had, it’s still the same plot (despite a few changes here and there) and if they show the baby in this one, it’ll destroy the ending of the film because it ruins the mystery completely of what the spawn of the devil would look like. That and you can’t top the dream sequence from Polanski’s classic one bit.

As noted in the title, I’ll try to keep an open mind, but there are a few strikes against this one already for me. Hopefully, the cast and director can save this one enough that even the more ardent fans will want to check it out. I’d imagine though, if it DOES do well, we’ll either see NBC trot it out yearly (eek) or get a sequel fast-tracked for next year (double eek). That idea didn’t do well for the original film at ALL, by the way…

Funko Introduces Hikari Vinyl Line (& A Chance To Win BIG!)

Posted on May 2, 2014 by geelw

Funko is at it again, trying for (and succeeding) your collectible dollar with yet another awesome new lineup. This time it’s Hikari (meaning ‘light’), a very limited edition set of Sofubi Vinyl Figures made in Japan, with runs of between 500 and 5000 per figure. To kick things off right, the company is also introducing Hikari Fridays where a new Hikari Japanese Vinyl Figure will be announced and ONE lucky winner will walk off with the FIRST one from the line. This week, it’s revenge on Michael Bay for his UGLY-ass take on the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Funko wants you to say hello to the Metal Mix Leonardo Hikari Vinyl Figure, which is limited to 500 pieces:

Cute and shiny, isn’t he? Anyway, Leo officialy goes on sale in July, but if you’re wanting a chance to win this sooner, boogie on over NOW to the Funko Facebook page for details on how to win and GOOD LUCK, because I can see a LOT of people wanting this one.

GOG.com’s Weekend Sale: Ubisoft Wants You To Get Busy Going Through Their Library…

Posted on May 2, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, AlexWhite525!)
Back on sale at gog.com in case you missed them the last time are a bunch of great Ubisoft published titles, so get your fill and then some at 60% off. I have a bunch of these already in the backlog, but I’m sorely tempted to pick up the heroic, mighty and magical Heroes of Might and Magic II Gold Edition just because it’s called by some folks the greatest fantasy strategy game ever made. Well, also because I played some of the original back in the day, but lost all my files when my computer blew up and never actually completed the game. That was probably a very good thing, as it was consuming a GREAT deal of my free time and I was getting maybe an hour or two of sleep per night and yep, even pulled a few all-nighters and was out and about working on nothing but caffeine and adrenaline fumes. Ah, those were the days (I think)…

Anyway, you know what to do, right? I’ll leave you to it, then!

Doctor Jones, I Presume? Writers, Here’s How To Introduce Your Hero (#3 Of A Bunch)…

Posted on May 2, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, jackpmoore!)

Thanks to George Lucas, Philp Kaufman and Lawrence Kasdan with a grand assist from director Steven Spielberg (and of course, the great Harrison Ford’s performance), this one’s easy to fall into and get hooked on right from the moment the Paramount logo fades into that mountain and a big grin spreads on your face. I also find this intro hilarious because those old serials the film was derived from were divided into chapters only a few minutes long, so this would have never been allowed. Anyway, this is one of the most perfect film openings that sets the tone for what’s to come a few minutes later in that trap-packed cave and later, the wilder globe-hopping adventure to come that’s still one of the most re-watchable films ever. I saw Raiders on day one of its release here in NYC and many times since because while it’s far from flawless, it just never fails to entertain in every respect. That’s one part of what makes a true classic movie hero, I’d say…