Red Dead Redemption II Trailer II: Old West’s Newest Best Bet Yet

 

Ooh, look what I found! I’ll just leave this here:

 

RDRII_ps4There’s not too much to say other than Rockstar Games has got it all covered, no worries. I get a big hearty chuckle out of those sites that over-analyze every second of these reveals when all you really need to know is the all excuses you’ll be using to get off work so you can spend a week or more playing through as much of Red Dead Redemption II as humanly possible.

If you’re in school and begging for this as a gift, suck it up, kids – your pops will see this in the store and want it all for himself, so expect your system to be “temporarily confiscated” so you can “concentrate on your schoolwork” which really means Daddy-O will be playing cowboy on his own TV when he should be at work. Yee-haw!

That’s pretty much all I have to say, as a mere minute and twenty eight seconds is very hard to judge a game trailer by. Well, other than how fantastic it looks running on the PS4 hardware. Anyway, as I said earlier, Rockstar has got this. I’m not worried in the slightest. Nope, not at all.

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Spring 2018, huh? Well, I’ll just need to clear out a whole month or two of backlogged games in anticipation, then.

 

Liquid Sky: Vinegar Syndrome’s Big Blu Surprise

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Yes (and it’s about time). Throw out those blurry DVD and VHS rips, people. It’s high time for an upgrade after all these years as cult classic Liquid Sky is finally coming to Blu-Ray in remastered form. All you need to know is straight from the press release Vinegar Syndrome sent my way:

The flash preorder is scheduled for THIS THURSDAY September 28th at VinegarSyndrome.com. It will run for 24 hours, starting at 12:00 AM EST ’till 11:59 PM EST. There will be three different purchase options:
• LIQUID SKY
• LIQUID SKY + (2) Secret Black Friday Blu-rays
• Just the (2) Secret Blu-rays

We can’t reveal what the secret Blus are, but we can say that both are highly-requested direct-to-video horror films that were shot and finished on film and have never been available in film sourced editions. One is making its DVD and Blu debut and the other is making its Blu-ray debut, but no past editions of either have been film sourced.

LIQUID SKY comes to Blu-ray in a special limited edition package this Black Friday at VinegarSyndrome.com!

Slava Tsukerman’s new wave, sci-fi masterpiece, LIQUID SKY will be making its worldwide Blu-ray debut during our Black Friday sale (November 24th-27th), EXCLUSIVELY on VinegarSyndrome.com in a special limited edition package!

The release will feature an all new, director and cinematographer approved, 4k restoration from the original camera negative, along side loads of extra features, among them interviews with director Tsukerman, star Anne Carlisle, cinematographer Yuri Neyman, production designer Marina Levikova, among others. Plus never before seen outtakes and production stills, and more!

Womderful. I fully expect this to sell out and fast and I’m betting Vinegar Syndrome does as well. We shall see, of course.

-GW

ECHO: Death Becomes Her (Multiple Times)

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While ECHO is out now on PC, I’m really more interested in developer Ultra Ultra‘s upcoming PlayStation 4 version set to be released in October. Partially because I hate the constant upgrading of PC hardware and mostly because I’m really curious to see how the Unreal 4-powered game looks on Sony’s hardware.

Granted, looks aren’t everything in my book. Great gameplay is always going to be far more important than pretty visuals at the end of the day. But it seems the dev team here is striving for both and if that trailers above and screenshot gallery below are any indication, succeeding in their mission.

The game’s story also makes me want to dive in feet first, so I’m avoiding reading anything else about the game until I get to take it for a spin myself. That said, if everything falls into place with this one, En’s big, deadly adventure could be one of the better original IP this year

-GW

 

 

Arrow Video October Releases: A Yay For These Boos

My big-ass backlog has kept me from updating these Arrow release lists, but the next few months of Blu-Ray/DVD’s coming are looking really phenomenal. A few reviews of the October lineup are incoming here, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out what’s coming soon to empty out your wallet:

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Children Of The Corn (Blu-Ray, 9/26/2017):

From the mind of celebrated horror author Stephen King, the man behind such classic terror tales as The Shining, Carrie and It, comes one of his most chilling offerings yet – Children of the Corn.

A young couple on a road trip find themselves lost in the back roads of rural Nebraska, eventually winding up in the seemingly abandoned town of Gatlin. But the town is far from empty – as the pair soon discover, it’s inhabited by a twisted cult of murderous children thirsty for another blood sacrifice…

Adapted from King’s eponymous short story first published in 1977 and starring Linda Hamilton (The Terminator), Children of the Corn has gone on to spawn one of the most enduring horror franchises of all time.

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Features
– Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
– High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
– Original stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio options
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– Brand new audio commentary with horror journalist Justin Beahm and Children of the Corn historian John Sullivan
– Audio commentary with director Fritz Kiersch, producer Terrence Kirby and actors John Franklin and Courtney Gains
– Harvesting Horror – retrospective documentary featuring interviews with Fritz Kiersch, John Franklin and Courtney Gains
– It Was the Eighties! – an interview with actress Linda Hamilton
– …And a Child Shall Lead Them – a brand new interview with actors Julie Maddalena and John Philbin
– Field of Nightmares – a brand new interview with writer George Goldsmith
– Stephen King on a Shoestring – an interview with producer Donald P. Borchers
– Welcome to Gatlin: The Sights & Sounds of Children of the Corn – interviews with production designer Craig Stearns and composer Jonathan Elias
– Return to Gatlin – a look back at the iconic filming locations in Iowa with host John Sullivan
– Cut From the Cornfield – an interview with actor Rich Kleinberg on the infamous “lost” Blue Man Scene
– Disciples Of the Crow – 1983 short film adaptation of Stephen King’s story
– Storyboard gallery
– Original theatrical trailer
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Sullivan and Lee Gambin

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A Triple Shot of EDF Coming To PS4

 

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Well, this one’s a total surprise to wake up to. Sure, I knew we were getting a sixth* Earth Defense Force game from D3Publisher and developer Sandlot sometime this year (and yep, those busy guys really need to update their main website!), but there’s a also an all-new digital-only EDF game spinoff starring Wing Diver (aka Pale Wing here in the US) on the way to PlayStation Network (it’s a vertical arcade shooter!) as well as another EDF game in the works coming in 2018 from veteran Japanese developer Yuke’s that looks to be a more dramatic take on a series known for its campy voice acting but tough as nails gameplay.

(*not counting the portable versions)

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Raiders of the Broken Planet Beta Hands-On

season1_big-2I’ll admit straight off that I’ve been a big geek for MercurySteam‘s games ever since I got a review copy of American McGee Presents: Scrapland way back in 2005. Their attention for detail grabbed my eye and I’ve followed each game they’re released always looking forwards to what the team can cook up. Currently, they’ve two big games out or on the way, Metroid: Samus Returns (Nintendo 3DS) and Raiders of the Broken Planet, currently in beta on PC, PS4 and Xbox One with a release date set for its first of  four campaigns September 22.

As I’d been slowly killing off my MMO/online gaming phase (not enough time, too many me-too game, no way to enjoy them offline), I initially planned to ignore this one until I found out it had a solo campaign mode as well as a unique “4 vs 1 counter-operative campaign” that lets you play both sides of the conflict if you so choose or team up with friends to tackle some challenging missions against really pesky AI opponents. While the beta had a few matchmaking issues online (hey, it happens!), the gameplay is quite fun and very challenging in terms of solo play.

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VCI’s Fall 2017 Lineup: Eclectic, To Say The Least

VCI logoVCI Entertainment has been around for decades (I’ll let you read their “About Us” page at your leisure) and with a library of over 5000 titles from vintage to modern in nearly every genre available in physical, download, or digital rental format, you’ll very likely find something to watch.

The company’s fall 2017 lineup is a small but nice one with a bit of horror, history and a little rock ‘n roll to get the neighbors out of bed and pounding on your door late at night if your TV is up too loud. Hmmm… perhaps they’re all bringing over some popcorn and beverages so they can join in on the fun at that hour… as they’re not getting in otherwise. Anyway, let’s take a peek at what’s coming below the jump.

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L.A. Noire Headed to PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Vive

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Busy day today, so I’ll be brief: Yes, and thank you, Rockstar.

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L.A. Noire on PS4 and Xbox One was expected, but seeing a Switch version as well as an all-new HTC Vive exclusive L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files
is pretty darn cool.

Press release below the jump, if you’re not in a tearing hurry like I am.

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Monster Hunter Stories Hands-On: Sweet Spot Central

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MHS_3DSWell, Monster Hunter Stories will very likely be a big ol’ very well deserved smash hit for Nintendo, Capcom and developer Marvelous! when it lands at retail and on the eShop September 8, but it really needs to be on a more powerful system that would allow it to be even better visually.

Yeah, I said it – the well-aged 3DS hardware just can’t handle all the game wants to show off and that’s too bad in this day and age.  So you get NPC’s popping in, occasional frame rate drops, some nice-looking (but would be nicer looking on an HD system or handheld) cinemas and a few other issues. That said, the game is fun as heck and absolutely the most accessible Monster Hunter game to date.
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Granted, I’m someone who has a huge love/hate thing going with this franchise for over a decade. The character and enemy designs are great, but up until this turn-based installment, the combat has always been what left me annoyed. The funny thing is, MHS grabbing at the brass ring cash cow Pokemon has been for decades makes for a game that’s hard to dislike unless you’re not a fan at all of “Gotta catch ’em all!” styled play.

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Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen Headed To PS4/Xbox One October 3rd


 

It’s about time Capcom ported over one of it’s biggest surprise sleepers from a few years back. I’m thinking the success of the PS version and all its tweaks plus a lot of fan bugging them helped compel this smart move. But hey, whatever. It looks as if the wait will be worth it. I’m gathering save data will NOT be transferable from any other versions of the game which means it’ll be a fresh start and all that exploration, fighting and leveling to do all over again. Yours truly won’t mind one bit as DD:DA is pretty compelling to dive into and has a lengthy campaign that doesn’t require playing with others to get your fill. I just need to find the time to sink into this gem, as I know my October is going to be packed with medical appointments (boo!). Then again, this seems like the perfect game to de-stress with for a while between visits to people poking and prodding at me and my assorted body fluids (yuck!).

-GW