Living on the EDGE Isn’t Easy… But You Can Do It Now On Your Wii U (And Soon, 3DS)

Posted on November 24, 2013 by geelw

Hey people, it’s time to hit the blocks! I’d never heard of EDGE until a few months back while poking around the internet, but with my backlog, I’d never gotten around to snapping this cool-looking indie game up for anything it was previously released on. I saw some guy playing the Steam version on his laptop (yeah, he’s one of THOSE people) the subway and it was hilarious because three fellow commuters on either side of him had their heads turned his way and it was like a comedy routine watching them watch him play. I was standing above and in front of him, so I got a few smiles checking out the game and the audience on his level. So simple looking, but pretty darn cool, I’d say. Anyway, now that YOU’RE hooked, if you own a Wii U, you can drop two digital bucks down at the eShop and get your blocky platform/puzzle action going on.

Wii U Screens:

2DS/3DS Screens:

Still not convinced? Man, you’re a hard-ass! OK, here’s the arm-twisting press release rubdown action. Lie down and feel the tensions melt awaaaaaay…

EDGE has a massive amount of levels, including the free EDGE Extended DLC and Bonus levels from the Steam version and it runs in glorious 1080p with anti-aliasing at 60 frames per second.

Features:
– Retro styled platformer
– Classic 8-bit inspired soundtrack
– Includes EDGE Extended DLC
– Off-TV play
– 1080p at 60 frames per second gameplay
– Only $ 1.99 / € 1.99!

By the way, Xbox One games can’t run at 1080p, but many can do 60fps. Just thought I’d mention that to the folks who like to think the Wii U is a Wii with a U at the end. It’s not. So there.

As For The Doctor’s Future… “Who. Nose?”

Posted on November 24, 2013 by geelw

Hmmm. So THAT was something, wasn’t it? For starters, the sheer amount of fan service was mind-blowing and yes, I ended up watching the episode again later just to pick up on a few things I thought I missed. Anyway, it was all good stuff: The Zygons were back after something like 38 years(!!), there were more than three Doctors in the episode (“No spoilers!”), the switches from comic to dramatic moods were perfect and that ending? Let’s just say that final Matt Smith episode coming up in December is probably going to help sell a LOT of Kleenex and popcorn. Or something like that. Actually, I’d not mind some Jelly Babies right about now. You can keep the fish fingers and custard. My only big geeky query is this one: So, since Gallifrey is now Kandor… will the next Doctor be wearing a cape (and boots) upon his entrance? Ah ha ha ha (and +10 if you get the reference without having to look things up)…

A Timely Reminder From The Beeb…

Posted on November 23, 2013 by geelw

NO, not THAT one. The RIGHT one. In case you’re missing it, that worldwide telecast of Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary episode will indeed be rebroadcast a few more times today and tonight before it most likely pops up on your Free On Demand channel if your cable box has that service. That is all you need to know in case you forgot the episode is on NOW (and is about to end shortly)…

Noah Trailer: Saving Up For Those Rainy Daze…

Posted on November 23, 2013 by geelw

Somewhere, Cecil B. DeMille is stomping around in knee-length leather boots and aviator pants yelling into his megaphone at this trailer. I can see him saying something like “There needs to be a ten commandments of movie-making!” or something similarly snarky. I may catch this on cable at some point, but spending my hard earned money on a movie like this is out of the question for me. Well, it should be entertaining and thankfully, wasn’t advertised as “based on”, “inspired by” or “from the incredible” true story or anything close to that. But hey, between the action movie music in the trailer, the expensive CGI effects and a cast of actors all looking worried or pissed off or hopeful at the right moments, I guess this will rake in the bucks no matter what the biblical scholars and fundamentalists have to say. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in between that particular rock and hard place, that’s for darn sure…

BandFuse: Rock Legends Offers Another Fused Thought…

Posted on November 23, 2013 by geelw

…And another great reason to pick up the game, of course. If you have to ask what tablature is and you’ve were playing Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band back when they were the big deal in music games, then you’ve half-answered that question on why it’s key to actually learning to play a real guitar. Life isn’t that hard when you learn something new every day and put it into practice, I say…

Dying Light Lighting Tech Demo: Enjoy It Now – You’ll Be Running Like Hell Later…

Posted on November 21, 2013 by geelw

Veteran developer Techland has been making some phenomenal-looking games for a number of years for consoles and PC, but Dying Light looks to be their best work to date. This mere 40 seconds of a recent tech demo shows off some pretty stellar lighting effects, a bit of a zombie problem and hopefully some nice hiding spots as I understand that when the sun drops from the sky, those undead get fierce and harder to put down. Which is why I’ll prefer to stay home and play the game as opposed to popping my head and body out the door to pick up a quart of 2% and some cat food, only to get jumped by some undead in the process. Heck, I don’t even own a cat! “Good Night Good Luck”, indeed… MY slogan would be “Hide and Sleep”…

Sabotage Trailer: Nobody Gives Him (Another) Raw Deal (But Me)…

Posted on November 21, 2013 by geelw

Ah, the Ah-nuld resurgence continues, I suppose. Yeah, this upcoming (April 2014) flick looks nice and gritty and it certainly has a pretty surprising cast in some respects (Mireille Enos as an action heroine?!). But I always start up my cable countdown clock when I see one of these trailers because it’ll be the usual two to three weeks at or near the top of the box-office charts before being bumped off by the next blockbuster or surprise indie hit, then three or four months later onto Blu-Ray and a few months after that it’s popping up as a surprise early premiere (hopefully on a cable channel I can access at home).

Annnnd of course, Arnold is now pissed off at me for this post, as I found out sooner than I’d liked (as in as I was typing):

Hey, Mister Angry Dude, you’ll live. TO quote Mister Freeze: “Chillllll…” Now get back to counting your money or something. You certainly don’t need my seal of approval at all. I’ll see your escapist flick soon enough (well, on my own schedule)…

Jimmy Fallon vs. Xbox One: The “Who”, “What” or “Where” Show Returns…

Posted on November 21, 2013 by geelw

Yes, it’s usually pretty crazy on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, but just what the heck was this confusing mess of a live demo? Yeah, the Xbox One has SO many things packed into that black box that it was hard to tell what was going on. I did note that Kinect wasn’t used for the menu navigation (as it seems to have issues with more than a few people in a room according to some early press), Forza 5 got a few seconds of play (not by Jimmy) that showed off some lovely visuals before things switched to the camera scanning Jimmy earlier (and making an awful likeness) and there was some playing of that new Kinect Sports game with Will Forte. Ugh. Meanwhile, that Microsoft rep was no Ron Popeil at all, trying to cram too much talk into a handful of minutes.

Look, if you’re trying to sell an all-in-one living room dominator/media center/juicer to the non gaming public and it indeed does WAY too much for a mere under five minute demo… you need a longer sales pitch. I don’t think that sloppy mess last night was selling any consoles to anyone who wasn’t already buying one because other than Jimmy drooling about the new controller too long, it really didn’t show off much other than pretty visuals and a lot of “wait, what was that?” before it ended. Eh, whatever – we’ll see what happens when the system rolls out later today. Or: yet another midnight launch I won’t be going to cover because it’s all hype and the REAL proof is a few months down the road plus when the post launch titles start dropping into stores…

Random Film of the Week: The Man in the White Suit

Posted on November 20, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, thecinelady!)

I recall seeing Alexander Mackendrick’s 1951 film The Man in the White Suit listed as both a comedy and a science fiction film in two separate movie books and as I hadn’t seen it at that time, I was a bit perplexed. Of course, I think I was also about twelve years old, so I was perplexed about a great many things. And in a constant state of perplexed about those great many things believe you me.

Thankfully, once I finally saw this classic a few years later, all my questions were answered – it’s a comedy AND a science fiction film (and a bit of social commentary, to boot). And of course, it’s an Ealing Studios film so it’s just about perfect in every aspect and yes indeed, comes very highly recommended…
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Magus Teaser Trailer: Aksys Has a PS3 Surprise Up Its Sleeves For RPG Fans…

Posted on November 20, 2013 by geelw

In case you haven’t figured this out yet, “next-gen” kicking off with the releases of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One don’t mean that “last-gen” is dead at all by a long shot. Well, not for a while at least. Which is why it’s great to see new games being announced for those “old” systems that won’t be headed to stores until 2014. Aksys Games has one of these games, Magus, set to hit the PlayStation 3 on February 25, 2014.

A wee bit of internet poking about by yours truly reveals that this one’s from developer Black Tower with Aksys Games, runs on the versatile Unreal Engine tech and looks like an Action/RPG of some sort. It’s also a PS3 exclusive it seems and can be pre-ordered from Amazon if you like that teaser trailer above that really doesn’t tell much.

While the game has a decidedly 2005 or so look to it in those screenshots above, I’m gathering these are early screens and not representative of the final game. That said, I like the “rustic” look to the visuals here, but hope things get polished up as far more details in the environments and the somewhat plain (and tiny!) GUI typeface. As to how it actually plays… I guess we’ll see. Aksys doesn’t exactly make NYC a stop on its press tours being a small publisher and all, but I trust them to not release a game that’s not somewhat enjoyable and interesting, “dated” visuals or not. We’ll see how this one is at some point – probably in a review down the road a piece. Stay tuned…