Well, that took way too long. Anyway, according to DC Comics and that news item/tweet they ran from Conan O’Brienhere, it looks like someone’s long national nightmare is over while others are going to be starting. Anyway, Warner Bros. Home Video will be dropping some sort of set on you Bat-fans sometime in 2014, so you may (or may not) want to haunt your favorite retailer online or off so you can run over someone to grab that day one release. That is all. I’m a little bit thrilled about this because I’ve seen all those episodes but not for some time now and can only imagine the transfer work and all those crazy colors I’m going to see pop off the screen. “POW!” Indeed.
Thanks to years of writing for a few places, I have a LOT of press stuff here socked away in a few bins (I tend to keep just about everything I’ve gotten of importance). When I’m not doing my usual headless chicken thing, I keep plotting and planning to post a few galleries of the assorted discs and other material I’ve held on to, but I just haven’t had the time to pore through that mountain of materials. Anyway, thanks to these two press kits popping out of a box while I was digging up some old games someone wants to buy from me, I guess this is now one part of a many-part project I’ve launched. That’s one of the Sly 2: Band of Thieves press kit on the left and Killzone on the right. They’re about the size of a 12″ vinyl LP, by the way. I don’t think I have any more records here or I’d have done a size comparison. Or If I do have any records left around here they’re probably hiding out in a different bin I haven’t cracked open in a few years. Eek.
I’m not sure when another update is coming from the press vaults, as it’s a daunting task to dive in and not get lost going through things for hours and reminiscing. All that does is leave me with stacks of stuff to repack and no place to sleep if I don’t. Of course, a helper monkey who can make lists and take pictures would be a total help, but they don’t exist yet and any robot I want to think of buying can only vacuum my floor or dance (but not both? Come on technology, get with it already!). Ah well… I guess I’ll get this thing taken care of when I can…
Hey, last week I heard some loud ladies on the street say that “Men are useless!” and while I do indeed agree we are on some fronts, sometimes we knock it out of the park big time. Er, at least as far as making cool as hell stuff goes. Well, cool stuff that doesn’t involve actual explosives, booze or some sort of automatic magazine pin-up dispenser as an all-in-one solution to multiple non-problems.
I don’t even know who Travis Reynolds is, but he’s my *new* best friend because he has created the (ta-dah!) Briefcase Arcade or Businesscade or Briefcade. Some call it the “Arcase”, but that sounds kinda lame (to me at least). Oh, it’s not built completely from scratch, mind you – that would be TOO genius and make him automatic King of the Known Universe… Continue reading →
Yikes. While I’m NOT a mall person at all and generally dislike large crowds, I’d never, ever consider suicide as an option to too much mall trawling. Sadly, some poor guy in Jiangsu Province (in Eastern China) decided to end it all after five hours with his girlfriend this past Christmas, leaping from a balcony after she wanted to go to one more shop. Wow. Now, the kind of amusing thing here is this seems to be such a huge problem in China (men hating to shop with their wives and/or girlfriends, not men throwing themselves off balconies when they do too much shopping with their wives and/or girlfriends) that some areas actually have what amount to “husband check-in” stations that keep the king of beasts there pacified and sane, although probably still worrying about their bank balances after all that purchasing power happening below.
I think we should have these sorts of things here as well, but it seems that Hollywood already thought of that little problem way back in 1932, as you can see above in that fun old MGM short. Then again, maybe over-shopping was a bad thing for Depression-era America, but these days, man and women alike will run over each other just to spend five hours or more snapping up two dollar toasters and half-price sweat socks. Perhaps there can be both ladies and mens check-in areas just so staggered shopping becomes a new habit people pick up. Heck, they’ll certainly be staggering after a few free glasses of watered-down booze. Still, I’d be fully into some of this pre-Hays Code era relaxation if this were actually existing today at a retail paradise near me. Heck, the floor show would even get me out for a stroll even if I was already well stocked with tomatoes and peaches…
Well, you’re still here and I’m still busy. Hmmm… what to do, what to do? Ah, this should keep you entertained for a hot minute (take it away, Gene!):
Now, THAT’S what I call ACTUAL reality TV, folks! I do miss the late, great Chuck Barris and all his bizarrely awesome programming that more or less changed the landscape of entertainment telly as we know it (yeah, for better and worse). Yeah, I know loads of substances were involved in the making of these shows back then, but there’s a certain insane purity to this stuff that’s FAR more honest than anything claiming to be “real” on TV today. Go dig up some old clips of the man’s huge body of work and see for yourself, I say…
I was in an odd mood today until I saw these two videos and now, I’m grinning like a squirrel that’s come across a crashed semi full of mixed nuts. CUPHEAD is a (currently) PC-only side-scrolling platformer from Studio MDHR with, well YES,a main character with a darn teacup for a head. Yeah, that was enough to get me grinning, but those gameplay teasers actually got me to laugh out loud because this is one of those oddball mash-ups that some developers have tried before with mixed results, but haven’t quite nailed.
If everything comes together and this delivers what its promising, I’m betting platformer fans make a beeline for this game on anything it eventually pops up on. That said, I don’t expect any actual cartoon or ton of licensed goodies to start dropping from the heavens at all (as I’d rather see any profits go into making more and better games in the future), but I think this dev team is off the a fine start. Keep and eye on this one, I say…
“Let me tell you something… You know Santa Claus? Yeah. well… he’s nothing but a gawd-damn pervert!” Most of the mouthful of coffee I’d just drank ended up coming back through my mouth and nose ending up on the formerly clean table as I now struggled to breathe. It’s a good thing my eggs weren’t ready yet.
The waitress that seated me rushed over with a dishcloth and asked if I was alright as she wiped the table down, seemingly wanting to reach over and start slapping me on the back or testing her Heimlich skills. As she placed her other hand above my back, I managed to nod and signaled up at her with an “OK” sign while letting out a strangled “Oh, it just went down the wrong way…” she breathed a half sigh of half relief. “Oh, I thought the coffee was too hot or burnt or something. Hold on, honey – I’ll get you a fresh cup!” She scooted off to do so and as I patted my shirt down with some napkins, I glanced to the left and behind me to see who almost killed me before breakfast… Continue reading →
So, I’m surprisingly alive, but I think I took a five-minute nod earlier. Anyway, this trailer for a Kickstarter funded film project is making the rounds and while it does pack a punch in few places, all that green screen work is a wee bit TOO perfect for an 80’s action flick. Yeah, yeah, it’s cheesy and hilarious, but somehow, the perfect mattes and effects seem more out of a full-motion video game than an intentionally awful movie that would have landed in a theater around 1987 or later. Granted, if this WAS a game project, I’d pony up a sack of pennies in a heartbeat (BOOM!). But as it is, this is going to make its target without a dime from me and make a lot of people smile in the process. Granted, this could end up like the next Snakes on a Plane if the jokes wear too thin, as what’s here is basically an expensive Saturday Night Live short film that’s stretched to what’s seemingly feature length. That said, you have to love the computer effects and Nintendo Power Glove with the finger tips cut off (those things were always too tight for adults unless they has kid-sized mitts) plus a few other things…
Merry Christmas and all that stuff like that there! Okay,unlike the previous giveaway post this isn’t quite a freebie, but more of a trade of sorts. I’m clearing out a closet full of assorted things here and figure someone who loves movies might want this rather thick and heavy old tome. As you can see, it’s the 1971 volume of The New York Times Directory of The Film, which is 1243 pages thick and packed with reviews of the papers top ten films from the years 1924 to 1969 (but I think a few 1970 films get mentioned). Read on for more info!…
Well, well, well… I actually haven’t played a Tex Murphy game since 1994’s Under a Killing Moon, so I’ve been way out of the loop on the noir/tech detective and his adventures for (eek) almost twenty years now (eek!). Anyway, Atlus (which is generally not known for publishing these types of games) is producing and publishing the long awaited PC follow up to the 1996 PC game Tex Murphy: Overseer and developer Big Finish Games is, as you can see, making a FMV (Full-Motion Video) game for the ages.
I actually loved these types of adventure games back in the 90’s, grainy video quality and all, so it’s fantastic to see this style of game get a nice boost thanks to better technology that allows for crystal clear FMV scenery in the cinemas as well as in-game environments and effects work that’s not embarrassingly cheesy for a change. I also love the idea of a film noir-ish detective in a post World War III San Francisco, which is sort of like Blade Runner without the pompous ego crisis and Philip K. Dick pedigree, ha ha. Heh, I may need to hire a Blade Runner of my own to protect my from the legions of fans of that classic film, but I think I can take my chances and survive. I’ll take on the all of the Pris impersonators first, though. I think my feeble brain could really use the vigorous thigh massage (Ouch! I was kidding, ladies, Don’t hit! Don’t hit!!!)…
Anyway, my eyeball is now fixed on one more great game that’s going to roll up in 2014 and get a lot of people buzzing about it for a few reasons. Anyway, all this gabbing and I still haven’t officially* linked you to the game’s official site where you (yes, YOU) can check out the assorted screens and a few FMV movies that will let you know what some are bouncing up and down in their favorite chairs about. I’d be doing the same, but I’m in the library here, these damn chairs are as hard as a rock and I’d rather not have to be hospitalized for being giddy. At least for this particular reason.
*”Officially, as in if you didn’t click on those other links already, you haven’t seen the site yet, of course)…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 