Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Random Screenshot of the Day: Art Appreciation (3)…

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New visitors to otherwise sleepy Greenvale who eventually get around the town proper will soon realize that it isn’t as fancy as New York, Paris, Tokyo or some other big city packed with all sorts of fancy art galleries and museums. However, if you look around you can find art in the strangest of places. This particularly controversial piece is “Untitled” and I didn’t get the artist’s name at all (as it was scrawled in blood colored paint), but it’s a truly striking work that’s bound to raise a few hackles amongst certain viewers who see it as exploitative. I think it represents the monotonous daily grind of preparing for work each day by starting off with a hot shower or something. But I really don’t know much about art… I just know what I like.

On the other hand, the best artworks generate debate as to their meanings and just outside the location this piece was exhibited at, there are a few people having an animated discussion about the work. I didn’t want to get too close to them, as it’s rude to be so nosy, but I think they were actually convinced the sculpture inside was REAL and one of them even put in a call to that FBI Special Agent I’ve seen popping up around town over the last couple of days. Hah! just wait until he shows up here expecting to find a dead body and finds out it’s just a VERY lifelike mannequin in that working shower. Boy, I’d like to find out who made this – I’d even shake his (or her?) hand for doing something SO dramatic with the simplest of materials.

DP_Preorder Speaking or artsy things… even though the release date is less than a week away, did you know you can still pre-order a copy of Rising Star Games’ PlayStation 3 exclusive Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut before it hits stores on April 30? There’s even MORE art on display here in those updated HD visuals, PlayStation Move and 3D TV support, over 100 improvements over the original version, new DLC and more. I’d bet that playing this game will make you appreciate a few kinds of artwork you’d never have thought about until you picked up a copy of this one…

swery cigar_cognacOf course, if you’re a really highbrow kinda guy like Game Director Swery 65, you know all about art and appreciating it for what it is. Hey, you don’t get to smoke huge cigars and sip fine cognac because you happen to have them lying around in the house like a can of beans, y’know. Sit down with the man for a smoke and snifter and he’ll probably regale you with tales of the good olde days of making art and how he’s turned into one of the more recognizable names in his field in such a relatively brief time. That, or he’ll just ask if you’ve played his new game and what your favorite part was. I’d say you better have a darn good answer, as those big cigars and cognac aren’t cheap. I’m betting that’s a good Croizet in that glass…

This Week’s Oversight Committee Comes To You From Griddly Games…

In general, oversight is a VERY necessary thing thanks to the built in stupidity that keeps all forms of government under suspicion and always questionable in the ways they operate. But I’d say that’s because politicians of all stripes need to change their tactics to actually working for everyone in their areas and not a particular interest group with plenty of gifts to give, stop eternally scheming about how to stay in office as long as possible and perhaps learn to lose gracefully. One way this can be achieved might be having these clever (and not so clever) elected officials play actual board games such as Griddly Games’ Oversight, where their deft maneuvering and manipulating skills can actually work in their favor and no one gets kicked out of a job or home at the end of the day. Well, except for the guy or gal who gets TOO good at the game and keeps winning. You can’t have term limits for a family game like this… but you CAN throw down a curfew just to get the person beating your pants off the hell out of your living room…

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara – The Cleric: The Doctor is IN!

Not just a skilled fighter, the Cleric can dish out some truly nasty spells that cause damage to all sorts of pesky creatures. Of course, going at it solo with the character is a challenge, but that’s the fun thing about these arcade games because they bend the D&D rules enough to allow anyone to play as any class and still have a complete blast. As in that Turn Undead spell completely blasting the game screen free of undead things before they get within chomping distance. Clerics don’t much care for zombie bites on their forearms (or foreheads, for that matter!). Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara goes on sale July 14 on PSN, Xbox Live Arcade, Nintendo’s eShop (for the Wii U) and PC. Yes, I’m still hoping there’s a Vita version coming down the road, as this one begs to be played on a road trip!

Star Trek: Into Darkness Clips: A Lesson In Undressin’…

Hmmm… you know, Paramount… there’s such a thing as TOO much exposure when it comes to some reveals. Now, I love a good tease once in a while, but I say take a lesson from the late, great Sally Rand and not show it all off all at once. Some things are worth waiting for, so a little anticipation goes a longer way than just whipping everything off all at once. Of course, I’m also wanting to see more, so your little ploy has worked out quite well…

That said, it IS a J.J. Abrams flick, so the template is there and easy to pinpoint. That bodes well for the movie, but also makes it a wee bit too predictable to some longtime fans or those who can catch the telegraphing of plot points a few star systems away as the film hits its thematic notes in their proper order. Granted, THAT part is up to the editing team as well as the director’s skills… but I’m not too worried about either.

On the other hand… if Into Darkness gets too formulaic, it means there’s room for improvement and a writing team (or hell, ONE writer) who can deliver the goods fans of the different Trek franchises can approve of. It’s hard to please so many generations of people who grew up watching or have caught the Star Trek bug over time, but the minute that magic moment happens, the person behind that particular wheel will become an intergalactic treasure of sorts…

Iron Man 3 TV Spot 6/Featurette 3: Who Knew Billionaires Were So Cool?

Usually, it’s all pompous 1-percenting about tax shelters, how much that gold-plated platinum toilet (with bidet, of course) cost and trying to get legislation passed that keeps the poor from doing no more than scraping the outside of the bottom of the barrel for scraps they toss down, but I bet if Tony Stark were a real guy, he’d be fun to hang around with. Well, provided he wasn’t constantly having people like the Mandarin trying to get rid of him. One minute, you’re talking with him about the possibility of trying on a non-working Iron Man prototype and the next minute, you’re hiding under one of those suits because the ceiling just fell in. Whatever happened to “Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams…”, I say…

Hmm, I wonder what Bill Gates is up to? I’m sure he’s not having crazy guys with too many rings on their fingers putting holes in his property (unless he’s getting a golf course put into the back yard)…

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Hands-On: Starbreeze Takes A Brave New Direction

brothers_cave01Starbreeze Studios and Josef Fares’ upcoming collaboration: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (set for a spring launch on PC, PSN and Xbox Live Arcade) is an important game for a few reasons, but it’s also a game you actually need to play in order to understand how and why it works so well. The acclaimed Swedish director and well-seasoned developer have crafted a gorgeous-looking fantasy adventure tale with an innovative control scheme, smart camera system and no GUI to take away from the immersion, all of which make the game unique but accessible once you wrap your head around controlling two characters with a single controller.

There have been many games where players were either followed around by “smart” AI characters or controlled multiple characters on the same screen, but Brothers’ unique control scheme gently demands that both halves of your brain operate in unison right from the start, as many of the puzzles you’ll face require timing and precision in order to progress. Just remember that your left side of the controller is Big Brother and the right side Little Brother and it all clicks into place…
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Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Random Screenshot of the Day: Georgeus Interruptus 2…

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In case you’re new to Greenvale or just dropping by here for the first time, let’s talk about Sheriff George Woodman again just so you’re up to speed on the man and his antics. FBI Special Agent Francis York (just call him York!)Morgan and he don’t get along well at all for a few reasons, but as you’re new, I’ll not go into all of them today. One thing that really ticks off York is George’s penchant for awful practical jokes at his expense. It’s bad enough to get a KICK KILL ME sign taped to your back that you don’t discover for the better part of the day (and only after the gal you’ve been eying, chatting with and potentially getting closer to sees it and starts laughing at you), but lately, it seems he’d going too far…

At the A&G Diner this morning, I overheard York talking to himself (…or someone who wasn’t there named “Zach” or something) about wondering what that axe and smelly costume was doing in George’s police car’s trunk and why that jerk was pulling such a stupid stunt when that Red Seeds Killer case wasn’t even solved Man, that George… What a total loser, huh? All I’ll say is if that killer gets wind of him and his stinky replica costume, the sheriff will be the one behind bars because he’ll need to sleep in the damn jail just to be on the safe side… what a creep…

DPDC PS3 US EFS 2D Real Hey, speaking of creeps, prepare to get a whole caseload of them in a week’s time when Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut lands in stores on April 30, 2013 exclusively for the PlayStation 3 from Rising Star Games. The updated HD visuals, PlayStation Move and 3D TV support, Trophies, all-new DLC and over 100 improvements over the original version should all have you halfway to hell or under the couch or both as you try to solve the mystery of the Red Seeds Killer before he strikes again. Personally, If I were York, I’d knock George on the head with a shovel and toss him in the trunk with his getup just so he won’t get in the way like it’s an episode of Scooby-Doo and there’s no fake killer to get “exposed” while the real one runs free. “Meddling kids!” indeed…

Hey, look! No, not here – up at that cool “launch” trailer above. Game Director Swery 65 is away today resting (so he says, but I was him in disguise at the Swery 65 Bar earlier because of the autograph seekers), so instead of a “candid” pic, you get that trailer to ogle. As for who he’s dressed as, well… I can’t tell you or he’d get upset. That said, he did leave a really tantalizing clue only a small amount of his TRUE fans can decipher. Something about a “Spy Fiction” or what have you… Hmmm…

Random Film of the Week: Peeping Tom

peeping tom poster Based on what transpired after it hit theaters back in 1960, one could almost say that career suicides don’t come any better or more stylish than acclaimed director Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom. Controversial immediately upon release in the UK, the film was banned for many years from public showings in some countries, but took on a life of its own as the years passed and is seen as a genre classic by many horror fans today.

Despite its age, there are some extremely intriguing psychological themes and visual elements some easily upset types will probably find shocking. That said, it’s not as if Powell planned on his directing life in Britain going down the drain with this film. He was simply applying his well-honed talents all too well to a screenplay that happened to be extremely well-written and precise in its portrayal of a very troubled photographer and his special camera…
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Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen Launch Trailer: Oh, I’ll Be Here For A While, Folks…

As I predicted, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is so far, all I could have asked for and then some. The bonuses for converting that save file over are awesome, the MASSIVE new island/underground area is capital “D” Deadly (plus tax!) and overall, I’m predicting those who aren’t whining about the budget price point because they wanted this to be CHEAPER as stand-alone DLC (even though it has a tweaked version of the original game for FREE on that disc – or second disc if you own an Xbox 360) will be having a grand old time in Gransys’ new underworld. Hopefully, I can come up for air this weekend with a review. I’ll shoot for that, but don’t hold me to it because as with th original, there are WAY too many diversions in the game world to simply blow through this one in a few days…

GRID 2 Presents: A Few From BMW To Whet Your Appetite…

Only about a month plus to go before Codemasters’ superb sequel rolls out, so here are a few BMW’s to “Mmmmmmmmmmm…” over. I do recall the one I drove in the demo a few weeks back handling like a dream, but it was definitely on a tough track to make it around without some deft braking and proper acceleration when required. The game isn’t a sim at all, but you can’t just jam on the gas and expect to make it through a race with a decent position. Then again, you’d probably NOT want to be sitting in a real BMW or any other car with me, as I don’t drive in the real world (but skills picked up from gaming have helped me move a few vehicles over the years)…