Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Update: A Little Night Music For You…

Posted on February 1, 2014 by geelw

“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make…”

Another game I’m really looking forward to is this final MercurySteam-developed Castlevania game that looks to wrap everything up nice and neat and perhaps raise the bar on a few fronts in terms of how a 3D version of this storied franchise should be done. Whoever is taking the reins from this point on will be under a great deal of pressure to do something just as impressive without falling back on repeating what’s come before. Given the talent pool of developers out there who probably want to be the ones Konami calls in for that next phase of this series’ life, I’m not too worried at all. As long as what’s coming next is playable on more platforms, it’s a good thing to see Dracula and a Belmont somewhere battling it out in that eternal struggle they’ve pretty much committed to ages past…

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Developer Diary #2: On Getting It Gothic…

Posted on January 29, 2014 by geelw

Almost… alllllmost. The wait is creeping to a close (February 25, 2014) and Spanish developer MercurySteam is doing their final Castlevania game up more than right. A handful of fans of the older games in the series are a bit grumpy for some reason that the game isn’t just like those older games, but for those of us who respect new and old styles of visuals and gameplay, it’s clear Konami picked the right team for this part of the series. I tend to play games like this for the stories more than the action, so it’s great to see the team has done their homework in linking this to the series canon while adding in plenty of new and intriguing story elements that should make this one memorable to watch as well as play.

BAD WORDS: Bateman’s “Bee” Movie Will Make Your Ears B-U-R-N

Posted on January 29, 2014 by geelw

It’s great to see Justin Bateman branch out and direct his first film and his upcoming comedy BAD WORDS looks like one of those “so wrong it’s hilarious” non-PC films that might make for a fun watch. Granted, him playing against the sort of clueless and too nice guy stereotype he’s been known for since the Arrested Development days might not convince a handful of fans this is some sort of breakout role, but I’ll give him the benefit of your doubt.

Hey, my doubts are non-existent. I don’t doubt the man’s talent at all and he’s certainly not looking so clueless here. And yeah, kudos to that kid (Rohan Chand of Homeland) and some deft editing that make this look a lot more shocking than it probably was to film. Will I see this? At a screening if one comes to NYC, sure (and definitely when it pops up on cable whenever that happens).

300: Rise of an Empire TV Spots 2 and 3: Don’t Know Much About History (But I’m Not As Bad As Some)…

Posted on January 28, 2014 by geelw

Look, as much as I love Frank Miller’s incredible graphic novel 300 and its amazing (and historically inaccurate) take on the 300 Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae, both it and this sequel (which seems to be based on Miller’s yet to be released follow up, Xerxes) are turning some younger people into ill-informed dopes. I actually overheard a conversation a few weeks back between some kids who tried to use the film and comic to write up a report a history class and yes, they all failed. One kid tried to blame the history teacher because “He’s old and he never even read the comic OR saw the movie!” which made me dash away to laugh myself silly. Ah, you kids… always trying to find the easy way out of some hard work.

That said, has those meddling kids gone and watched 1962’s The 300 Spartans, they might have failed with a higher grade as their teacher was probably around to see that flick. Or maybe they should have cracked the assigned books and checked out this video instead? Hmmmm. Well, lesson learned, I hope. Yeesh – some of these kids better wise the hell up before history forgets all about them one day…

Gallery Update: Dark Souls II

Posted on January 27, 2014 by geelw

I have the distinct feeling that my list of ‘must play’ games will be shorter than I think thanks to a handful of upcoming titles eating up way too much of my time. In addition to EDF 2025, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Toukiden: Age of Demons and a bunch of indie to AAA games for assorted platforms I’ve been keeping my eye on as 2014 rolls onward, Dark Souls II looks as if it’s going to consume a rater huge chunk of a few months on and off. Every time I see new screens for this game I get a few chills in all the proper places as well as a sense of dread because from my play time with that demo, I know this one’s going to be rougher than using a huge sheet of the coarsest waterproof sandpaper as a towel after a too hot shower. Or, OUCH!.

But hey, we Souls maniacs like it hard and Producer Takeshi Miyazoe along with the dedicated team at developer FromSoftware are more than willing to please as from what I’m seeing and hearing from folks in that beta test, the game is going to be even harder than Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls combined.

Eeep.

More screens below the jump… Continue reading →

Game of Thrones S4 “Fire and Ice” Preview: Slyly, The Clip Joint Beckons…

Posted on January 26, 2014 by geelw

As much as I love this show, I try to keep away from these sneaky preview shows and other online “entertainment” that exists mostly to satiate those fans who’ve not read the books and only stick to the show’s canon (or fans of the book who want to get all picky and pissy about the changes). I’m still flipping a coin as to whether I’ll watch this behind the scenes clip show as I prefer going in cold and letting the assorted writers and directors have their way with me and the stories and characters they’ve added to Martin’s work. Then again, it’s the same for me with The Walking Dead and any other show I like based on something else…

RAMBO: The Videogame Update: Prepare To Fly Out Of Your Seat On A Friday…

Posted on January 24, 2014 by geelw

BOOM. Reef Entertainment and developer Teyron have been quite busy it seems. This understatement of the week has been brought to you by no fewer that four videos they’ve just posted of their upcoming multiplatform RAMBO game in action that show off lots of stuff blowing up, a fairly high digital body count and overall, a game that isn’t screaming anything but pure guilty pleasure out of the gate for folks who like this sort of thing.

Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week: Private Lessons

Posted on January 20, 2014 by geelw

Hollywood just did not know what to do with Sylvia Kristel. By the time the Dutch actress made it to America a few years after becoming a worldwide star (well, everywhere except here in the US) from her appearance in and as Emmanuelle and two sequels, she ended up working in a few American movies that ranged from passable to flat out wretched. 1981’s Private Lessons is one of those flat out wretched ones, a “sex comedy” that’s not erotic or amusing at all, but pretty unsettling and when seen in light of modern views of its subject matter, just plain wrong.

Of course, I have to confess that I saw this way back when it was released with some like-minded friends and we though it was going to be the thrill of the late summer only to end up crawling out of the theater in need of a shower and a Men In Black style memory wipe. There’s just a layer of head-shaking offensiveness here that only those with low to no morals would find “thrilling” or even remotely “sexy”. Then again, I don’t want to make poke at someone’s particular proclivities ’til they pop. If this dreck does it for your own tastes, more power to you then. On the other hand, given that real people have gone to real jails for doing what happens here in real life, that fine line between movie fantasy and stark reality is stomped on and wiped away long before this trash-fest is over…

Continue reading →

300: Rise of an Empire TV Spot #1/Trailer #3: It’s Like Black Friday… With Swords and Shields!

Posted on January 20, 2014 by geelw

See men run. Run, men run. *Chop! *Stab!* *Splash!*… Ouch. Stupid men! Next time. I’ll stay off the battlefield when coming up with a post (Ouch!) Yeah, this slow-mo comic panel stuff has been done to death since the first film made it a wee bit too commonplace, but Warner Bros. is hoping those folks who dug the first film to death will do the same plus tax with this follow up. Given the fate of that poor Hercules film that just came out and got Julius Caesar-ed by critics and some moviegoers, this one better do a mighty great job of making people forget about all those pretenders to the throne.

If the film succeeds, it’s that header above in terms of people storming theaters to check it out. If it tanks, the screams will only be on screen in theaters playing to half-empty houses (or worse) and somewhere in WB headquarters that the film hasn’t even made its projected targets. As usual (repeat after me, class)… we shall see. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a medic. And a few missing body parts. Ouch!

Deception IV: Blood Ties Teaser: Tricks, Treats and Traps Make A Comeback!

Posted on January 19, 2014 by geelw

About fifteen years ago, Tecmo’s Deception became a cult classic on the original PlayStation and eventually spawned three sort of sequels (two on the PlayStation and one on the PlayStation 2). Eight years after the last game, Tecmo Koei is bringing the action/strategy (and formerly RPG at least for the first game) series back with Deception IV: Blood Ties, headed for the Vita and PS3 on March 25 (March 28 in Europe). This new game adds more playable characters and thematically, seems to go back to the first game’s more demonic themes. Granted, while the developers allow you to have fun creating and using traps to kill of a wide range of poor saps, there’s a very good bet that the series tradition of making you feel lousy for dispatching some of the people trying to hunt you down. On the other hand, the focus shift from somewhat timid and reluctant leads forced to do bad things seems to have changed to the “Bad Girls Go To Hell” version of Deception, so we’ll see how players take this shift. If anything, the grim humor the game is also know for will be intact (some of the kills here are pretty darn silly). We’ll see where this goes, but color me intrigued…