Tuesday’s Off: Slim Pickin’s Make For Less Guilt & A Clearer Forehead

Posted on February 9, 2016 by geelw

Photo: randazzokingcake.com

Nope, no booze and King Cake plastic coin and beads, almost tiny toy baby-swallowing baccanal-fest follwed by a day of dirty forehead repentance for me, folks. I had a donut (okay, three), an extra cup of coffee and curled up with a few movies I needed to review plus a few games I’ve been meaning to finish up or start. Yeah, I’m boring as hell (sometimes), but that sort of reliable predictability is a specialty I’ve been working on for a while.

Anyway, yeah… I’ll be back on Wednesday with a few updates. You? You’ll be all bloated and guilty with some ashes on your forehead and promising not to do what you did again… until next year rolls around, right? I thought so. If I’m around, maybe I’ll hold your hair back with a two-foot long pair of tongs while you barf into something safe. But I won’t bail you out because you probably deserve a short spin in the can if you did what I heard you did. Amusingly enough, I don’t think I’ve ever had a slice of King Cake before, so I may need to at some point.

One Upon Light: Boxed In Braniac Braves Brightness

Posted on February 8, 2016 by geelw

Rising Star Games has a really nice, stylized top-down puzzle game on PS4 now and coming to PC later this month in the form of One Upon Light, the award winning 2014 game from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD Game Lab). As you can see above and below, the black and white visuals pack quite a punch as The Scientist needs to make his was out of that deadly lab without letting any sunlight touch him. I’d gather there’s a story-based reason for all that crate shifting and light avoiding, or else it’s an “inspired bu a true story” game about every gamer who’s ever spent too long indoors binge-playing that latest RPG or other favorite title. Yeah, that’s a lousy stereotype… but I just know some of you out there just yelled out “That’s the story of my life!” and choked a little on that Mountain Dew you were swigging. Continue reading →

10 Cloverfield Lane TV Spot: Bowl of Confusion Slightly Spills Some Secrets

Posted on February 7, 2016 by geelw

Okay. Yeah… I’d almost forgotten there was some *big* sports-ball game on TV to-day. Then again, to me all these major event deals tend to blend together to me especially with this non-stop sporty thing that has balls of all shapes and sizes in the air and on the ground 24-7. *Yawn*, but more power to those who can stay glued to the tube or pony up the mortgage money to go see in person and overpay for food and lodging their favorite things in the world (well outside breathing, family and such). Continue reading →

READS: Bombshell: The Pin-Up Art of John Gladman

Posted on February 6, 2016 by geelw

Bombshell_cover Thank goodness the art of the glamour pin-up book isn’t lost forever, particularly given today’s endless supply of overly raunchy and more easily accessible content the internet has to offer. The fine folks over at Schiffer Books have been putting out a nice selection of pin-up titles for some time, but this is one of the best they’ve published to date.

Award-winning photographer/artist John Gladman is one of those thankfully still carrying the artfully positioned cutie torch and in Bombshell: The Pin-Up Art of John Gladman (Schiffer Books, $34.99 – BUY IT!), there’s a whole lot to appreciate. Continue reading →

Portal Knights: Mine and Craft Your Way Through This Keen-Looking ARPG

Posted on February 5, 2016 by geelw

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PortalKnights_AnnounceScreens_35_Knight 505 Games and veteran developer Keen Games have something cool cooking up that’s going to probably be pretty hot soon. Portal Knights is headed to PC via Steam Early Access on February 25 and based on the trailer and screens, should make fans of games like Minecraft and Fight the Dragon quite giddy.

Confession time: other than watching a few friends play and taking over for one when he had to take a phone call (I got to beat up on some Creepers and do a bit of building for maybe half an hour), I haven’t really played enough of Minecraft to have a decent impression of what it’s all about (whaaaaat?!). But I’ve sunk too many hours into many of Fight the Dragon’s short user-created maps and appreciate much of what that game has brought to the table in terms of customization and how easy it is to get into while being incredibly challenging and rewarding.

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Portal Knights looks like a ton of fun based on the trailer alone that shows it’s got a bit of backstory to it. The art style is slicker and more appealing than the two aforementioned games, but as usual, graphics are subjective and gameplay is absolute. So it’s in the “What happens when I pick up a controller or mouse and keyboard” stuff where my main interest lies. An adjustable camera view is hopefully in the options mix, as the trailer’s combat sequences are a tad too close in for my tastes. Okay, I hate getting jumped by off screen enemies or not knowing how much room I have to run away screaming when trouble gets too close. Your mileage may vary, as usual.

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Mining and crafting aside, if the fantasy elements of the game can grab players from the outset and keep them hooked in for the long haul while getting regular content updates and fixes, Portal Knights could be a contender to the throne. We’ll see soon enough, though.

DOOM: Campaign of Pain Awaits The Hardcore FPS Fans

Posted on February 4, 2016 by geelw

doom-frontcover Ha and double ha. Releasing DOOM on Friday the 13th (5/13/2016, to be precise) is a PR masterstroke created courtesy of the calendar naturally falling on that date and players worldwide hoping the final product is indeed ready for its garishly gory close up on day reserved for superstition and bad luck galore for those who believe in such stuff.

From the video below the jump (it’s kinda NSFW with all that mostly demon blood and bits splooshing all about), it’s clear to this writer that the game recalls the original’s unrepentant and dark tone, amped-up modern visuals side.

Remember, folks: you’re NOT buying DOOM because you want happy-happy rainbows and flower-draped unicorns prancing about with flitty faeries giggling psychotically as rosewater (gently) sprays into your face from your PC’s speakers. You’re buying DOOM because you know what you’re getting into: One space marine on Mars stuck in a ravaged space base racking up a rather impressive and insane body count comprised of demons who’ve entered the place through a recently activated portal to hell.

Yikes, but hey – simpler is best in a game like this, particularly is it’s trying to get the feel of the original games right. “Nailed it!” is what Bethsoft and id want to hear (or “BFG’ed it!” or “Chainsawed it!” if you want to get into the proper game groove lingo stuff) from fans this May and if that trailer is any indication, they’ll be hearing that and more.

Speaking of more: click below if you darrrrrrre… Continue reading →

Enter The Gungeon: Take Your Best Shots Soon In This Pixel Perfect Dungeon Crawler

Posted on February 4, 2016 by geelw

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So, I’m hitting myself in the cranium with a day old baguette (ow!) because I’ve been ignoring Devolver Digital and all those great games they’ve been putting out for some time. Let’s see if we can remedy that with a nice post on Enter the Gungeon, which is set to land on Steam and (so far, one) selected console at some point this year. “April” seems like logical time frame if you watch the entirety of that rather amusing gameplay video below. PC, PS4, Mac, SteamOS, and Linux (sorry other platforms, although a Vita version would have been REALLY appreciated. By me, at least).

Anyway, the game takes the lovely pixel graphic dungeon crawler I’m a huge fan of, adds 2000% more guns, couch co-op fun and so far, looks like yet another crowd pleaser from those guys I should have bugged a while ago about getting preview code (bats eyelashes at Devolver Digital). Developer Dodge Roll Games (or is it Dodgeroll Games? It’s hard to tell on the internet how things are properly spelled, isn’t it?) has got a winner here that’s guaranteed to eat up even more of your free time and yep, you probably need this game in your library just because it will keep you indoors and out of trouble.

Of course, if you’re getting into THAT kind of trouble, you probably shouldn’t be playing many video games. The other kind of trouble? That’s okay. Another one for the want list? Yes indeed.

Blu-Ray Review: Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Volume 1

Posted on February 3, 2016 by geelw

Bringing three great Japanese films to collectors in fine form, Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Volume 1 comes highly recommended thanks to all three films being worth a watch for more reasons than the trio of actors featured on that cover art.While not flawless, seeing more Japanese cinema from the 50’s is an excellent thing if you in to expanding your cinematic horizons.

As all three of these flicks were new to me, it was quite pleasing to come away from this collection wanting to see more of what the directors and stars did over time. Longtime fans of the country’s movies will see some familiar faces in all three films, so the collection also works in that “spot the character actor” game we all play when we see a new film for the first time.

Seijun Suzuki’s 1958 mystery drama Voice Without A Shadow kicks things of with a noir-ish tale of Asako, a former newspaper phone operator who quit her job shortly after accidentally ringing up a killer in the middle of his dirty work. Three years later, Asako’s husband has a few work pals over for dinner and Asako recognizes one man’s voice as that of the killer. Talk about awkward dinner conversation! She has a minor breakdown, but things get worse when the killer turns up dead himself and Asako’s husband seems to be the prime suspect. In the middle of all this comes Ishikawa (Hideki Nitani), a reporter for that aforementioned newspaper. He had a crush on Asako back when she worked at the paper, but stepped aside when he discovered she was spoken for. Is his interest in the unsolved murders a new play for Asako’s intentions or is there some sort of actual journalistic integrity at work that will bring the killer of the killer to justice? Continue reading →

Path of Exile: Ascendancy: So Much For Anything Resembling Free Time

Posted on February 3, 2016 by geelw

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After years of ignoring it because of it’s lack of an offline mode (which is still a sticking point for me, but hey – I’m flexible), I’m finally giving the award-winning (and time chomping) action/RPG Path of Exile a try. This ends up being somewhat amusing because my inbox tells me (thanks Michael!) that a new expansion is coming March 4th, 2016 in the form of Path of Exile: Ascendancy. Which also means given the reviews I’ve seen from players who’ve sunk (*eep!*) thousands of hours into the original game, yours truly may never even see that newer content given the short amount of time per session I’ve mapped out for myself. Yes, I’m conducting another goofball experiment, folks. This time it’s playing a game that’s made to be a time-eater in small sessions and seeing how that goes. I predict it won’t go well given my love for these sorts of games. On the other hand, I’m limited by time and bandwidth so my 30 minutes per session is going to have to be adhered to or else this site is toast because I’ll never get anything done on the posting front.

That trailer above with it’s many ACME brand traps (that actually work!) gives me an idea of what to expect. but as noted above, I’m not going to be seeing this stuff for quite some time. I think Grinding Gear Games won’t mind my slow boat trek through their game, given that their already massive user base is keeping them busy with these updates and I’m just a small fish in a bigger ocean. That said, I bet a shiny new penny that getting their game ported to consoles at some point would be an instant smash, particularly if it went the Diablo III route and features offline play and/or even some means of couch co-op. You know, for those cases where the internet is all colicky or gets mucked up by some black-hatters looking to prove a point.

Anyway, the experiment begins this week at some point. This should be interesting to say the least given how addictive these games can be and my current workload.

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Arrives on PS4, Vita

Posted on February 2, 2016 by geelw

Bandai Namco’s Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (now available on PS4 and PS Vita) should do well among North American fans of the Digimon games who’ve been starved for content for a few years. The game is a quite decent mix of action-based “dungeon” crawling and yes, features plenty of creatures to digivolve. The game skews older than previous entries with more mature looking main characters and a darker overall tone. But it’s still a pretty family friendly game at heart, so no worries about picking this one up for the kids if they ask.

My eye is set on the Vita version as it’s supposed to have bonus pre-order content if you buy it this month. That and this seems like the perfect game to take on the road to kill a few hours when traveling. I’ll probably play it most at home, however. Anyway, enough babbling on this end – you have a city to save (and Tokyo always seems to be in trouble in games like this, right?)

And remember, folks: You can peek over Bandai Namco’s digital shoulder anytime you like. Just follow Bandai Namco Entertainment at one or more of the links below. They won’t mind, really!

Er, unless it’s after work hours and you’re trying to follow them home:

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