With a hashtag like #GETPROBED (Ouch!), that creepy as heck yet familiar in tone trailer below and some interesting casting (hey, I’ll watch Michael Ironside read cereal boxes for an hour and a half or so), The Vicious Brothers’ latest film looks like a modern version mix of 1980’s It Came Without Warning and a few other “B” movies I remember from back in the day. Of course, you can’t have an alien abduction flick without a nod to The X-Files, so it was amusing to see this film’s version of the Cigarette Smoking Man and a few other things. I’ll be checking this out for a review shortly, so stay tuned…
EXTRATERRESTRIAL will be released in U.S. theatres on Friday, November 21.
Here’s a no-brainer if you’ve time, a nice PC gaming rig (or an older one that can run fast-paced games from 14 years ago with no trouble), like being slightly terrified and having a few adrenaline rushes hit you within the space of a few hours. Help gog.com in their Galaxy beta test program and you’ll get Aliens vs. Predator Classic 2000 for FREE. Yup. Sign up and wait for that email that lets you into the beta and your game key. DRM-free, of course. While dated on the visual front, this is a pretty intense shooter that mixes the two franchises up pretty well and makes for some fine jump out of your seat multiplayer action. There’s a solo play Skirmish mode as well, but the folks at gog.com really want to see how many people their Galaxy can hold.
Hoo Boy. I made the mistake of paying attention to some crap online that started as a dust devil and has swirled up into a Category 11 cyclone of poop and noisemakers. That’s part of what’s gotten me a bit annoyed this week, but I’ve decided to ignore this sort of thing in the future. Meanwhile, back at the ranch… I have work to do and will get back to getting to it. In the meantime, ladies and gents, if the world is running down, you make the best of what’s still around, I guess. Take it all with a grain of salt (and no more – the dire-beat-us, you know) and yeah, if it REALLY gets mucked up out there, just keep saying to yourself “It’s ONLY a movie, It’s ONLY a movie, It’s ONLY a movie…” On the other paw, sometimes The Cramps come in very handy for situations like this.
Back in a bit – I need to go soak my brain in some hot soapy water and maybe have a shot of something adult beverage-y. What a week…
Shinji Mikami and Tango Gameworks’ horror game The Evil Within is out today, and I know publisher Bethesda Softworks is anticipating good numbers for this psychological/survival horror/action game hybrid. While PC and “next-gen” versions are going to get the critical love or hate, I’m more interested in the older console versions because they’ll be ignored for the most part by critics despite MORE people owning hardware those versions can be played on outside the PC game space where no game is guaranteed to move as well thanks to assorted factors outside the control of the publisher. Mikami’s name will move copies to fans of Capcom’s storied (but bumpy since he left) Resident Evil franchise, but those new to the man’s work will probably play the waiting game until they have enough pals playing to convince them to drop some cash on this new IP.
Sure, I’m betting the PS3 or 360 versions don’t look as good, may have issues with frame rate and/or screen tearing compared to the spiffier new consoles and so forth and so on. But I don’t care about that at all in any game if I like the story, characters and gameplay. We’re at the stage where games are picked apart for too many things that at the end of the day, don’t really detract from the overall experience at all. There are too many amateur internet critics that think because they’ve read other (and better) reviews and have picked up a few buzzwords, they can toss them back at EVERY game like they know what they’re talking about. Sadly, most of the time they’re wrong or just being picky to justify not liking something most others would overlook. As for me, well, I have to hold out for a bit thanks to my disposable income being less disposable of late, but it’s a ride I do want to take at some point…
Well, well, well… the eternally entertaining Zen Pinball 2 gets yet another great table (no surprise there), but this one is TWO tables in one. South Park Pinball drops onto PSN, Xbox Live and PC via Steam tomorrow, so you’ll get South Park: Super-Sweet Pinball and South Park: Butters’ Very Own Pinball Game to play around with and wave in the faces of your jealous non-Zen Pinball 2 non-gaming friends. Oh yeah, and the set is also those annoying tablets and other mobile devices that get stolen right out of your hands on public transportation in major cities, too!
The folks at Zen say that the South Park two-table pinball pack launches this week for $4.99/€4,99/£3.99 on PC and consoles, $2.99/€2,69/£1.99 for individual tables on Mac. On mobile platforms (the ones that keep getting stolen, man!), South Park pinball costs $3.99/€3,59/£2.49 for the standalone app and $1.99/€1,79/£1.49 for individual tables through the Zen Pinball app. Me, I’m sticking with the Vita version because I play mostly at home and no one is stealing my Vita from there unless they take me with it, grrrrr!
Oh, it’s a holiday today (a now controversial one to some folks), it’s gloomy out and I’m staring at a pile of stuff to do. Horrors! Anyway, between me ignoring all the big “important” gaming stories the internet is abuzz about these past few weeks (Corruption in “journalism”! TMI Sex stories! Entitled jerks wanting the impossible.. or else!) and me having way too much to do (which is why I ignore the internet), my brain is upside down and needing a rest. Trust me, I had three cups of coffee already today and it’s not even firing a spark plug upstairs.
That said, THIS story got me smiling for a bit this morning… to a point. California farmer Tony Dighera is probably going to become a very wealthy man in a short time thanks to a little ingenuity. I won’t bore you with a rewrite, just click here if you haven’t see what he’s whipped up. I just hope to heck Universal Studios or whomever owns the rights to that famous face knows this and is a good sport, or Mr. Dighera’s going to be supplying some lawyers or all of Universal Studios’ theme parks with those Pumpkins forever anda day (and a half). If they’re cool, they should pay him to make all the rest of the classic Universal monster lineup, I say. Although, at that current price point of at least $75 per pumpkin, only those set to leave the planet for Mars at some point will be able to afford one of these babies…
So, yeah – here we go. let’s see now: phone off the hook? Check. Clean underwear at the ready? Check. Ear out for UPS/Fed Ex in case I get some surprise packages from a PR contact (and/or my SUPER late Think Geek order that’s almost a month old, grrrr?): Check! I think I should eat something too, but I’ll pop into the kitchen while the game is installing and make something quick. Did someone say cheese pierogi with sauteed onions? I think that’s what my stomach was screaming, so that will get taken care of (thank you, stomach!). I think I have some (*ding!*) Gold’s Horseradish left. Hmmm… let me check… (*ding!*) Yep, with beets, at that. Okay, I’m set for the day.
Oh, that flower? It’s there because it’ll probably be the nicest thing I see all day. Back in a bit – maybe later this afternoon or evening with some sort of “I’m too %#$^@! scared to move” update. Maybe.
Let’s see now: one part Resident Evil, one part Silent Hill, One part F.E.A.R. and a lot of what’s inside Shinji Mikami’s head certainly go a long way in his latest game, The Evil Within. Set for an October 14, 2014 release on PC, PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One, this survival horror game marks Mikami’s return to the genre that made him a master to legions of horror game fans. I’m holding out until I play this one, but from all those trailers and behind the scenes videos that have been popping up, this one looks as if it will deliver the goods to those who can take what it throws at them. Granted, if you’re one of those jaded types scared of nothing and think this game is “dull” when you haven’t touched a controller connected to a console or PC running it, then Bethesda Softworks and Tango Game Studios more than likely have no use for your commentary on some message board where you’re all anonymous and filled with bile for some reason or another.
I’d bet they’d LOVE more constructive and useful criticism from people who may run into something that keeps the game from being what it needs to be (but that doesn’t include being a direct Resident Evil clone, I’d bet), so maybe go PLAY this before you go online and whine expecting for someone to back you up when the developer and publisher would rather see you fall off a cliff onto something sharp. Or something like that. I’m betting Bethsoft and Mikami don’t care what anyone who hasn’t played this thinks because at the end of the day, those people are wasting their time rambling on about themselves and speaking for others when they should just shut up and maybe play some of those games they hate on for no reason. Just a thought…
It’s almost here and yours truly will be popping up at a certain retailer bright and early to snap up my copy and trot back home so I can dive in feet first and come up for air with knuckles and hair all white from fear. Yay, fear! Hmmmm. I should e dreading this experience a bit more because I’ve not been really freaked out by any horror game in a while.
On the other hand, I’m knowing I’m going to enjoying seeing what The Creative Assembly has cooked up for people like me who’ve been following this from the shadows who want to go in cold and not have spoilers hitting us on the head because we hung out on the right message boards and want our “fun” spoiled. Of course, I’m less expecting this to be “fun” and more expecting it to be “Holy $#!+, I can’t take another step because I’m TOO damn scared, but that damn Alien is somewhere in the room, Gyaaaaaah!”…
Or something like that. (sings) The sun will come out, tomorrow… Hmmmm. I wonder if they sell cork panels at the K-Mart across from the game shop? I may need a bunch to line the living room with so my neighbors don’t keep calling the cops on me. “GYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
Hmmmm. I’m not sure I need another version of ALIEN for my library, but this 35th anniversary limited edition features a a reprint of the excellent Alien: The Illustrated Story comic and all-new, collectible art cards along with the 1979 original cut and 2001 director’s cut of the film. As this is one of my favorite films of any genre, I’ll probably cave in and pick this up at some point once there’s a price drop just to add it to the other sets I have here.
Yeah, Fox is pretty much jabbing us in the wallet with this one, but the price isn’t bad if you shop around and at least the new extras are different and worth checking out if you have to have EVERY bit of memorabilia. Between this and Alien Isolation arriving on the same day, I have the feeling that a whole new set of fans will be made for this absolute classic sci-fi/horror hybrid. The cranky older fans who think this one’s a double dip with a few bonuses surely won’t be buying this re-re-re-re-release, if my poking around on a few film boards is any indication. Those geezers are just too smug to see that somewhere in the world, someone STILL hasn’t seen ALIEN and yeah, they might be wanting to get this because it’ll be their first time experiencing this still near-perfect film…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 