BOOM. Nine game discs, five maps, hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of gameplay, a custom package to die for and something hard to hit the digital-only detractors upside their harder heads with, Bethesda Softworks upcoming must-buy The Elder Scrolls Anthology has officially and instantly made it to my Holiday Gift Guide 2013 list, gaming division. While it’s missing the LONG out of print standalone TES: Battlespire and Redguard side-story adventures (which I say NEED to get re-released one of these days), $80 for the entire main Tamriel saga (including expansions AND the Morrowind Construction Set!) is an absolute BARGAIN when you consider some of the games here are still a bit expensive when bought in either their original or Game of the Year formats as individual packaged products…
OK, I don’t like this live event announcing the new Doctor Who at all as it reminds me of that basketball special I didn’t watch because I’m not a sports fanatic (but couldn’t ignore because it was ALL some were babbling about for days before and afterward). Whatever happened to a simple surprise in the upcoming last season episode or a simpler press release or even better, a simple press conference that doesn’t require much in the way of expense or overblown wind up to a three-second reveal? Eh, whatever – I’ll be out and about tomorrow and not able to catch the special when it runs, but I bet it gets rerun later in the day on BBC America. I’ll be home around 6 or 7pm, so I’ll just tune in then. Or since I’ll be online all day, maybe I’ll just see all the comments and fan gushing all over facebook and twitter…
All that said, MAN, there are some awfully sexist fans out there! I’ve overheard a few conversations where there’s actual outrage expressed if the new Doc turns out to be a female. I say that would make for a super season that shakes things up quite a bit and if it happens, it’ll make the writing quite interesting. Anyway, we’ll see in less than 24 hours, right?
As I noted earlier, if there was any doubt that From Software was making Dark Souls II “easier”, all one had to do was play the demo build that’s making the rounds (it was a huge hit at this year’s E3 as well as the more recent San Diego Comic-Con) to be shown the error of misreading that quote from one of the game’s directors a few months back. The game isn’t “easy” at all, but more accessible in terms of getting you into the action quicker, getting rid of backtracking yet upping the scale of the maps to an impressive degree. As to the demo, it’s brutal but beatable and although I didn’t make it to the gigantic knight boss, I did stick around for a bit to watch a few fellow editor types step up to the plate, swing and miss wildly, their chosen characters dying in a few not so pretty ways…
Well, today is a bit chilly and rainy here in NYC, but you know what I mean. Actually, both Poles here on the real Earth could use some refreezing now, especially with Santa’s workshop now submerged and probably churning out flippers and scuba suits for all those elves. Don’t even bother asking for a new gaming system or something cool this holiday season, folks. Santa’s going all Oprah on everyone this year: “YOU get an aqualung, and YOU get an aqualung!”… oh, we’re SO doomed, ladies and gents. In the meantime, I’ll be up on the roof away from the flood waters waiting for my copy of Lost Planet 3 to be airdropped with some more supplies. Hey, business as usual here. Anyway, if you have some sort of app-getting device and/or a facebook account and like what you see above, go check out the Great Survivors app and see if you’ve got what it takes to stay warm when things get a wee bit too brain-freezy up on E.D.N. III
Nice. I just put myself down for a screening next week of The World’s End (there’s one tomorrow, but I’m not free to attend) for this upcoming Focus Features film featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (and a bunch of other talented and funny folks), so I’m probably going to review it here as well. OK, I’m absolutely going to review it, as it’s tough to get me out of the home office as it is, so I may as well let you all know if this one’s worth stepping outside and maybe having a meteor clobbering you on the skull. Or worse.
HOW much worse? Oh, I dunno… use your imagination (or just watch that trailer above a few times)…
I hadn’t realized that this had shipped out in Japan (well, it’s officially out tomorrow there… wait, it’s tomorrow there already, right? Oh, my head hurts…) until I poked around in my inbox and spotted these Game Empire HD play through videos. There are four so far, but I’ll only run two here so as to not ruin too much of the fun. I absolutely LOVE that the menus are in English, which means I can import this and play it (but I’ll hold out for the US version just to support Xseed Games here) and it certainly looks as if Suda 51 and grasshopper manufacture had a blast making this one, so strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. Er, this isn’t for the kiddies, kids – so break out the blindfolds or go put them in the broom closet with a flashlight, a box of Popsicles and a funny hat or two.
While Elysium looks to be pretty grim in spots, as with Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, there’s probably going to be some humor found in the strangest places. D9 had plenty of irony going for it in a few areas and I think it would be pretty amusing to see references to that film here (as if, yes, it’s the same Earth those aliens visited getting an even more depressing future this time out). We’ll see, of course – but I hope this does well out of the game and better than the other future flicks that have crashed and burned at the box office. If anything, I’ll bet the Blu-Ray/DVD set will do pretty well, as it looks like one of those flicks that’s worth multiple views just to see the many layers of depth in the CG effects work (which is some of the best I’ve seen in a film like this).
I wasn’t the biggest supporter of either of the two Swamp Thing films as neither was as close to the comics as I’d have liked and even the 70+ episode TV series was hugely flawed (but the makeup and costume were superb by that time). Still, after recently watching a friend’s copy of the DVD (it’s the recalled 2000 version he lent me, by the way), I have to say I don’t dislike it as much as I did back in 1982. I definitely liked it a LOT more than the stupidly campy sequel (which has a grand total of ONE really funny line in it that was worth the ticket price) and inane kiddie cartoon series created primarily to sell toys to parents who probably would be shocked out of their skins by the darker tone of many of the first ten issues of the original comics by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson and especially Alan Moore’s later (and much darker) run on the series that featured some amazing scripts and still stunning artwork primarily from Steve Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch.
Of course, those who were kids when the films, cartoon or TV show were new may feel otherwise, so there’s that to consider. Of course, I’ve always “gotten” the weirder elements of the character and for some kooky reason, he’s been one of my favorites to draw (so I guess that piece above can indeed be called “fan art”, whee). Anyway, I’m not sure just yet if I’ll buy this new Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, but it’s nice to know it exists if I decide to take the plunge…
I saw this trailer when I went to see Turbo at a press screening earlier this month (which was also open to a bunch of lucky kids and parents) and after it was over, I overheard from behind me a few rows back, some adult reassuring their kid or the kid they were in charge of for the day that the film wasn’t “real like it is in the Bible”, and that kind of got my goat a little. Granted, this film is more than a bit stupid in that it’s trying to be like an extended episode of Meerkat Manor or some other “reality” animal show that’s supposed to be dramatic and charming (blech) as it “tells it like it is” or whatever. But I just don’t like adults ill-equipped for actual facts outside what was beaten into them spreading ignorance onto kids who need to expand their minds, not contract them and think less outside the box they’re forced into. You can’t be part of the future if you grow up not expanding your knowledge of the past.
Of course, it’s also important to have an open mind as well, but one does need to get wiser with age. That said, I save that open-minded stuff mostly for appreciating junky films like this one that try to have it both ways with men and dinosaurs in the same place like it’s a more violent live-action version of The Flintstones
And don’t even get me started on Dinosaurus! and its crazy electricity-revived caveman and dinosaurs triple threat. Yikes. Granted, I could go further back and post clips from sillier films made before science caught up with Hollywood and its need to present every bit of human (and pre-human) history as “entertainment”, but I tend to give those classics a pass on their lack of accuracy because the filmmakers didn’t have much to work with and man, if you can hate Gertie the Dinosaur for any reason, you really have no soul. Little in-joke there, by the way.
The first time I saw this promo, I almost thought it was a new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm (yay!)… but it’s not (boo!). Well, maybe not (boo!), as it’s another Larry David-led ensemble cast improv class in TV comedy that’s bound to be full of awkward moments and “Wait, did (s)he just say that?” dialogue. Of course, it’ll be tough to top that last season of Curb for cringe-worthy and fall off the couch funny bits, so hopefully this film is Larry testing the waters before maybe bringing himself back for one final season of his show. He can’t stay in Paris forever and I think the French would kick him out of the country even quicker than he had to leave New York City. Eh, we’ll see, I guess…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 