Bundle Stars Superfly Indie Bundle Breaks My Sale-Ignoring Streak

Posted on August 2, 2013 by geelw

Yeah, I managed to make it through the ENTIRE month of Steam’s summer sale without spending a damn dime, but I saw this pack of games at Bundle Stars about two weeks back and also ignored it mainly because I thought I had Disciples III: Renaissance already (bought in another Bundle Stars deal a few months back). Well, it turns out I actually had Disciples III: Resurrection from that older bundle. Oops! That and a few of the other games in this new deal were ones I’ve wanted to play but haven’t yet, so there goes my $4.93 off to charity (adjusted to $5.11 with the Paypal fees, boo! But hell, STILL an incredible deal) and I now have ten more games I’ll slowly but surely get to at some point.

Shakes fist at screen: Damn you Bundle Stars (and digital games in general)!!!

(digital eel’s Weird World: Return to Infinite Space looks pretty cool as well – another reason I bought this bundle!)

*Sigh* anyway, if these came in boxes, I’d HAVE to pass them up because I have no room for more physical product here in the home office. At this point, if I dedicated all my free time to going through my stupidly large lot of digital titles from all these bundles I’ll be playing my current digital backlog until 2018 at the earliest (and yes, I did the math for that)…

Doctor, Doctor… Give Me The News (In a LESS Contrived Manner Next Time)…

Posted on August 2, 2013 by geelw

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?

Dark Souls II Hands On: Home Again For the Hardcore…

Posted on August 1, 2013 by geelw

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…

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Random Art: Killer Tree to Get A Makeover? Probably (It May Take a While, Though)…

Posted on July 31, 2013 by geelw

Eh, I’ll need to do this piece over one day and probably as a normal drawing rather than a digital one. I just had the thought as I was looking at it a day ago that I needed to find a copy of From Hell it Came out in the wild on DVD just so I have my stiff wooden tree suit muse thing down pat.

What, you’ve NEVER seen From Hell it Came? Shame, shame, shame! Hell, it’s an awesomely cheesy but surprisingly watchable classic “B” horror flick from 1957. Yeah, yeah, yeah- it’s filled with quasi-Polynesian or whatever random exotic island stereotypes the producers want to make you think exist somewhere in the world, a sort of atomic radiation and voodoo-doodoo created monster and plenty of laughs I’m betting were unintended. I grew up with this one and cut it a LOT of slack because even as a kid it never scared me… but I think it may have started a healthy tree fetish.

Or maybe I’m just nice to them so if one ever does come to life, it’s not going to wobble down the street after me first… “Not ME! Get the guy with the poodle! The guy with the POODLE! Gyaaaaaah!“

The World’s End: Doomsday With Drinks? I’ll Take A Ticket, Please…

Posted on July 31, 2013 by geelw

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)…

KILLER IS DEAD Import Walkthroughs: Game Empire HD Does It Again…

Posted on July 31, 2013 by geelw

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.

Sluggy Connections And Roadblocks Galore Still Get You Something to Read…

Status

U-sually, I’m already updating the site with a banner (and recently, a background image), but it’ll be a day late (and a dollar short?) thanks to me being stuck on a low connection today. Boo. Well, at least I’m getting some more “productive” gaming done and I did see some cool under embargo stuff tech earlier today (some fun projectors and printers), so there’s that. OK, off to yell at something, as I just found out the intercom system is busted (thanks to it being “repaired” last week) and I just missed a package I rushed back home to get. Bleh.

New Elysium Trailer: The Grass Is Greener If You’re Not Living On The Planet…

Posted on July 31, 2013 by geelw

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).

Swamp Thing Headed to Blu-Ray/DVD August 6: Still A Coin Toss For This Fan…

Posted on July 31, 2013 by geelw

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…

HBO’s Clear History: Should You Curb Your Enthusiasm Or Enjoy the Ride?

Posted on July 30, 2013 by geelw

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…