Well, give or take a few days. D3Publisher of America has launched the official site for Earth Defense Force 2025 today and while it’s still a work in progress, you can at least check out links to the YouTube channel and facebook page for the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 only action game. I hope you didn’t get rid of either console if you’re a recent PS4 and/or Xbox One owner. This is one of those games that looks simple compared to the best last-gen releases, but once you pick up a controller and start playing, there goes a few hours where you could have been doing something else, but got VERY occupied killing gigantic bugs and even bigger robots and (wait for it..) DRAGONS! Yeah, for some reason there are dragons in this installment and they’re cheap bastards too. You’ll see.
So, I’m surprisingly alive, but I think I took a five-minute nod earlier. Anyway, this trailer for a Kickstarter funded film project is making the rounds and while it does pack a punch in few places, all that green screen work is a wee bit TOO perfect for an 80’s action flick. Yeah, yeah, it’s cheesy and hilarious, but somehow, the perfect mattes and effects seem more out of a full-motion video game than an intentionally awful movie that would have landed in a theater around 1987 or later. Granted, if this WAS a game project, I’d pony up a sack of pennies in a heartbeat (BOOM!). But as it is, this is going to make its target without a dime from me and make a lot of people smile in the process. Granted, this could end up like the next Snakes on a Plane if the jokes wear too thin, as what’s here is basically an expensive Saturday Night Live short film that’s stretched to what’s seemingly feature length. That said, you have to love the computer effects and Nintendo Power Glove with the finger tips cut off (those things were always too tight for adults unless they has kid-sized mitts) plus a few other things…
Well, well, well… I actually haven’t played a Tex Murphy game since 1994’s Under a Killing Moon, so I’ve been way out of the loop on the noir/tech detective and his adventures for (eek) almost twenty years now (eek!). Anyway, Atlus (which is generally not known for publishing these types of games) is producing and publishing the long awaited PC follow up to the 1996 PC game Tex Murphy: Overseer and developer Big Finish Games is, as you can see, making a FMV (Full-Motion Video) game for the ages.
I actually loved these types of adventure games back in the 90’s, grainy video quality and all, so it’s fantastic to see this style of game get a nice boost thanks to better technology that allows for crystal clear FMV scenery in the cinemas as well as in-game environments and effects work that’s not embarrassingly cheesy for a change. I also love the idea of a film noir-ish detective in a post World War III San Francisco, which is sort of like Blade Runner without the pompous ego crisis and Philip K. Dick pedigree, ha ha. Heh, I may need to hire a Blade Runner of my own to protect my from the legions of fans of that classic film, but I think I can take my chances and survive. I’ll take on the all of the Pris impersonators first, though. I think my feeble brain could really use the vigorous thigh massage (Ouch! I was kidding, ladies, Don’t hit! Don’t hit!!!)…
Anyway, my eyeball is now fixed on one more great game that’s going to roll up in 2014 and get a lot of people buzzing about it for a few reasons. Anyway, all this gabbing and I still haven’t officially* linked you to the game’s official site where you (yes, YOU) can check out the assorted screens and a few FMV movies that will let you know what some are bouncing up and down in their favorite chairs about. I’d be doing the same, but I’m in the library here, these damn chairs are as hard as a rock and I’d rather not have to be hospitalized for being giddy. At least for this particular reason.
*”Officially, as in if you didn’t click on those other links already, you haven’t seen the site yet, of course)…
Yeah, I know it won’t be a lengthy Food Network-like how-to scene at all, friends. But I got big a laugh the other day when I read the plot synopsis and found that this final Matt Smith episode spans some 300 years (!), which means that’s more than enough time to cook up the biggest bird you can find and then some. Still… I wonder how HUGE a space turkey would need to be to take 300 years to cook and yeah, you’re not putting that raw stuffing inside, buddy. Unless that’s how you need to kill off a massive army of Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels and Silence all intent on doing you in. Of course, that’s NOT how it’s all going to go down (hell, it better not!), but it would be disgustingly awesome to see the episode suddenly turn into that infamous and particularly nasty dining scene from the finale of Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life but with a few spaceships full of aliens barfing all over each other instead of one really massive man making an entire restaurant very sick as he loses his lunch (and dinner and a few breakfasts).
OK, that’s pretty much a big, fat “YUK” just thinking about that happening. But it would be pretty darn memorable, no? Well, then… now that we agree, how about a teeny-tiny slice of pumpkin pie for you, sir or madam?
When I first heard of Zombeer, I laughed quite long and loudly at the idea of boozing it up in order to fight zombies as a gameplay mechanic. talk about becoming an easy target! Later, as screens started appearing, I warmed up to the stylized comic look of the game and my arched eyebrow sunk down to its normal position.Of course, as soon as I found out the game’s mechanic of drinking a certain type of beer in order to keep from becoming a zombie as you rushed to save the love of your life from a similar fate, I had to keep an eyeball peeled (eww) on this one as the months crept onward…
Now, this new kind of NSFW music video shows off an even more intentionally campy tone that makes me want to play this boozed out gorefest just to see if it lives up to the crazy tune cooked up for this clip. Spanish developer Moonbite Studios is making what could be a cult hit for PS3, PC and Mac gamers that, while not exactly screaming visual perfection, just might be fun and funny enough to outstrip any criticism. Besides, the color palette alone is just too awesome to ignore as you’ll see in these new screens:
And remember gang… YOU can even (sort of) be IN the game! Check out this link for the gory details – it’s easy to register and should make a nice surprise gift for someone who’s not expecting it.
Yeah, yeah. Another day… another Doctor, huh? Matt Smith will be missed for sure, but I think the writers on the show can indeed keep things rolling as the Capaldi era gets off to whatever start they want to give it. I can handle the loss of a Doctor, as I’m a more recent re-convert to the show after some years not of watching it regularly. And yes, my re-conversion was swift and amusing back when I did start up again as I got hit on the head hard with a string of episodes and characters that had my taking notes before realizing I was now trapped into the storyline and HAD to see what happened next. Anyway, there are a mere two days to go, so stock up on edibles and perhaps a box of tissues if you’re one of THOSE people. Oh, who am I kidding, most of us will probably BE one of those people by the time the episode ends.
Well, provided those dopey spinning and/or explosive Christmas trees aren’t in this episode. I think I laughed myself off the couch the first time I saw one of those things spring into action…
So, not only will there be a sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it looks as if this time it’s (even more) war as ape versus ape action will fill theaters next July and get the CG fans screaming. Me? I’ll wait for the cable premiere, as all these computer-made flicks just get on my nerves after anything over five minutes of otherwise hard work that’s failing to keep my interest the more of these effects hit me over the head. I’m NOT getting jaded at all, mind you. I just miss the days of practical work looking better in some respects and not as “perfect” because every motion is animated to a “T” and overemphasized to the point that it looks TOO realistic or worse, you get those “impossible to capture with a real camera” moments piled one atop the other and it’s basically not the director directing any longer. Yeah, we’ll see… we’ll see. It looks interesting and all, but if it’s not as “kinda fun” as Rise was, I’ll be sending a box of rotten banana peels to Fox with a mildly nasty note…
I actually wasn’t expecting all that much from this new Nintendo Direct video, as it clocks in at just over 33 minutes and the last live reveal the company did outside their straight to the consumer YouTube series was underwhelming at best (or: I don’t give a rat’s banana about Cranky Kong!). That said, there were some nice surprises here in the form of NES Remix a cool mash-up mini-game series available today on the eShop and for me, Hyrule Warriors is going to be a go-to game for a while whenever it actually hits retail. Seeing a Legend of Zelda take on the supremely addictive long running “mindless” hack and slash Dynasty Warriors franchise (done by the folks who make those games, of course) made me a wee bit too giddy. I say this one should have been a launch or launch window game for the Wii U just because it’s one of those series that like it or not, anyone who can hold a controller can dive into and play without a single tutorial or hand-holding moment… Continue reading →
So, it’s about a year away (!), but Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Interstellar looks as if it will be one more intensely interesting film from one of the more prolifically creative mainstream directors working today. Granted, this SUPER tease may as well be a trailer for a Salvage One movie or a more serious version of Joe Dante’s EXPLORERS, but I like that vagueness going on here and the fact that we have to wait a whole year to see what’s coming. Naturally, there WILL be updates as more of the plot and cast are revealed, but with any new film, I prefer to stay the hell off the internet and far away from speculation and spoilers because it just makes for a better overall viewing experience. Try it sometime and see, I say…
Endless Space was (and still is) a pretty amazing 4X strategy game that still draws in players thanks to a ton of depth and replay value plus a very healthy modding community. So, as one of a few follow up titles, developer Amplitude Studios is making… a dungeon crawler set in the same universe? Yes, this is Dungeon of the Endless, currently in development and coming soon to PC via Steam.
Well, that actually works very well for me, as I love that genre more than poking about amount the stars and hoping all my ships aren’t blown into space dust because I got lazy and forgot to do something twenty hours before that’s coming back to bite me in the butt. As you can see above in that teaser trailer, the game will feature randomly generated maps, loads of space beasties to dispatch or be dispatched by and is pretty much guaranteed to suck many, many hours of free time away from stuff you SHOULD be getting done except you were too busy being up too late at night not doing things like sleeping and dreaming of more productive endeavors…
Well, give or take a few days. D3Publisher of America has launched the official site for Earth Defense Force 2025 today and while it’s still a work in progress, you can at least check out links to the YouTube channel and facebook page for the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 only action game. I hope you didn’t get rid of either console if you’re a recent PS4 and/or Xbox One owner. This is one of those games that looks simple compared to the best last-gen releases, but once you pick up a controller and start playing, there goes a few hours where you could have been doing something else, but got VERY occupied killing gigantic bugs and even bigger robots and (wait for it..) DRAGONS! Yeah, for some reason there are dragons in this installment and they’re cheap bastards too. You’ll see. 
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 