Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut: The Wii U Gets Another One Worth (Re)Playing…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

If you’ve not yet given Eidos Montreal’s award-winning and critically acclaimed 2011 game a go on the PS3, Xbox 360 or PC because you’ve only owned a Nintendo console, here’s your big chance coming up soon. The cool thing is this version adds some great Wii U Game Pad functionality plus new features and content not found in the three earlier versions, so once again it can be said that Wii U owners are getting the most complete and yes, best version possible (outside high-end PC visuals, but what’s here looks great to my eyeballs). Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut will be in stores later this year.

Now I need to find time to (re)PLAY this one at some point down the road…

VGA 101: More Classic PC Game Intros? OK, A Little Dungeon Hack For You…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Another favorite game of mine by Dreamforge was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Hack, a pretty cool create your own dungeon-crawler were you chose or created a hero or heroine and set out in a random dungeon generated by you or the computer. This made for who knows how many millions of possible combinations and no two generated “seeds” playing exactly the same. Basically, it’s a rogue-like where survival was constantly tricky, but not impossible if you lucked out and managed to get some great gear to defeat the increasingly difficult monsters (and found enough rations so your avatar wouldn’t starve to death). Anyway, the intro is another favorite of mine thanks to the great art and colors used plus it’s funny as hell to see the hero whine about needing to get paid in advance with traveling and supply money… only to get zapped to the dungeon unprepared. I think I’ve only ever completed three or four of the dungeons I cooked up with this game, but it’s been a long while since I’ve played this one. I’ll fire it up once I have free time and dink around a bit to see if I can still play this one. It installs and runs perfectly on Windows XP, but I really don’t have the time to dive in and get hooked all over again…

VGA 101: Anvil of Dawn Gets GOG’ed (FINALLY!)

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Dreamforge’s classic 1995 first-person dungeon crawler was one of my favorite games back in the day and I still have my original CD and manual in the library. It’s been around as “abandonware” for a few years, but that and other versions were (and are) incomplete, missing the movies and/or fully voiced dialog, making for half the game it should have been. Well, the fine folks at GOG.com have gotten this one up and running (it turns out Ubisoft has the rights, which means we could HOPEFULLY see a remake down the road) and available for the low price of $5.99 (whee!), which makes me a happy camper indeed. Granted, I finally got my CD up and running last week, so I won’t be buying this right away. But it’s REALLY great to know it’s exactly where I need to find it, now whole again and able to be enjoyed by a new generation of gamers (who I surely HOPE will appreciate it for how important it was to the genre) who won’t compare it to games inspired by it (backwards!) or think it’s a new “retro” styled game (oh, the irony there!)…

Random Film of the Day* It Came From Beneath the Sea

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

*For the next week or so, I’m going to add a random film the great Ray Harryhausen worked on. The legendary special effects MASTER passed away on May 7, 2013 at age 92 in London and yes, the film world owes him more than they can ever repay…

You can probably consider the 1955 film It Came From Beneath the Sea as (and I quote) “The ONLY six-tentacled giant octopus movie you’ll ever need” and call it a night, but this would be a pretty damn shorter than usual column. Actually, this was another fun Charles H. Schneer/Ray Harryhausen co-production put together to show off Ray’s stop motion animation brilliance and yes indeed, it succeeds quite well on that front.

Of course, it’s also another yet low budget atomic radiation created mutation run amok deal, so expect a chunk of military stock footage, a few jabs at scientific accuracy gone awry and the usual pairing of lantern-jawed hero with sexy researcher who’s all business at the proper moments…
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Man of Steel TV Spot #5: He’s Earning That Merit Badge, That’s For Sure…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

Well, the nice thing about these Man of Steel trailers and now, TV spots as they go on is you can see the quality in them from the very beginning. That initially vague first reveal is slowly but surely giving way to a film that’s looking to be a bit more mature than the previous Superman flicks and will hopefully be remembered for taking its subject matter outside the borders of the comics and making the character one people remember as less of a caricature and more of an actual person. Hey, as long as the comic relief is minimal and restricted to a handful of tossed off lines of dialogue (and not all from the lead). As usual, we shall see, but on their merits so far, the film is looking to do for Supes what Chris Nolan’s films did for the Batman (which is a good thing at the end of the day)…

Get (More) PSYCHO: Mezco Toyz Gets Mother And Marion All Dolled Up…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

Mezco PSYCHO Dolls Eeek! I don’t know what’s more frightening: the fact that there are actually dolls based on Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal horror classic now available for pre-order or the the fact that there are people making some more room on their shelves for both of them with big grins on their faces. Granted, Mezco’s Living Dead Dolls line continually sells out and has legions of fans, so this set will most definitely do well with that crowd.

On the other hand, it’s a damn good thing these weren’t available as Mother’s Day gifts, as I’m trying to think who’d be the person giving one or both to their mom in a nicely wrapped-up package with an even BIGGER (and more sinister) grin on his or her mug. Not me, folks… although I can safely say that “My hobby is… stuffing things…”. Hmmm. If I ever tell you “You eat like a bird…”, you may want to start running in the opposite direction (and fast)…

Game of Thrones 3:7 Recap/3: Preview: Grim And Bear It…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

Well, now… episode 7 was certainly interesting and packed to the rafters with too much going on all over the place. At least it was a lot more clear that the last episode in settling a few things (temporarily) while also adding more questions into the mix. That bear fight had me cracking up, though – I guess the only way to get rid of one of the strongest female characters this season is to take her out of her armor, put her into a dress and drop her into a pit with a wooden sword to fight a really big and really pissed off ursine.

Well, it’s a good thing that didn’t quite work out, but those claw marks looked pretty nasty (and remember, at least one major character did drop dead as the results of wounds received during battle). Eh, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here – only three more episodes to go and the questions I need answers to haven’t even been touched on (gah!)…

I should be a little worried by now, but I’m not at all because I know those last three shows will knock me around the room with a few revelations and probably a bunch of demises I wasn’t expecting to see (or not see)…

Bundle Stars’ Dollar Deal Means Alien & Zombie Hunting Seasons Are Open…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

bundlestars_logo I’ve been a fan of Sigma Team’s “mindless” shooters for a few years going back to the original Alien Shooter, so this latest Bundle Stars deal is not only a must-buy for me at this stupidly insane price, YOU should pick it up because you probably need some practice for the upcoming fake Zombie Apocalypse that too many people seem to think is coming. Really. As in freakin’ AMAZON HAS A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE STORE THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY BUY SURVIVAL SUPPLIES FROM! Yeah, we’re that paranoid (and stupid) these days, but at least we’re well prepared, right? But I digress… One dollar (adjusted into UK currency, so it’s actually 65p there you”re paying), four full version games, loads of zombies and aliens to kill. All that and it’s only Monday? Count me in!

Even better, Bundle Stars has also re-listed its super-selling Indie Jam deal (TEN titles for a paltry $6.40!) and Indie Jam #2 is still live for nine more days (NINE titles for an even more paltry $5.04!). Check your system requirements to make sure you can run these, Grab them all (and a free STEAM account if you don’t have one yet) and figure out later how the hell you’re going to find time to PLAY all the games you just bought for less than you paid for a day’s meals. You’ll be hitting up Google looking for time machine plans that actually work, I bet…

Indie Royale’s Mayhem Bundle: Spend A Little, Get A Lot of Bodies Dropping…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

MAYHEM_bundle This latest budget bundle from Indie Royale should give that crappy Monday you’re having a nice boot out the nearest window. Six great games are up for grabs and all look like a blast in one way or another. I’ve played Alien Shooter 2: Conscription a while back and it’s a great little shooter/RPG hybrid. The similar looking (but co-op/multiplayer focused) Primal Fears actually looks like one of the Hunter: The Reckoning games from a few years back and Burn Zombie Burn? Well, that title would make me buy it on general principal. Of the other games, Droplitz is a no-brainer for puzzle fanatics, Plain Sight looks pretty cool (despite your ninja/robot avatar needing to blow itself up for points all the time) and Lucius actually looks like someone took the original 1976 film The Omen and based the game around it (which means it’ll be nice and gory as you guide the little devil around and wipe out that mansion full of unfortunates).

Of course, the latter probably isn’t the game you want the babysitter to play at all, as it’ll give him or her nightmares and he or she’ll never drop by ever again. But, hey – what you do with your newly acquired cheap games is all up to you, right?

AMC’s The Killing Season 3: Getting Your Attention With Intention To Keep It Held…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

Let’s see now: a serial killer on the loose (meaning a higher body count this season) with the series’ focus on this one case and how it affects everyone on all sides should make for an intriguing story arc provided the show sticks to what made it work in the first place and doesn’t fall into the trap other crime shows have become victims of (changing too much to appeal to a certain base of short attention span viewers for rating’s sake). As with the first two seasons, I’ll be going in expecting nothing so I can actually be surprised when the writers and cast hit me over the head and toss me in a trunk…

Well, you know what I mean, right? I actually don’t advocate hitting anyone over the head and tossing them into a trunk unless they’re trying to do that to you and you manage to beat them to it…