ABC & Marvel Say: “Don’t Yield, Back S.H.I.E.L.D.!” I Say “Hold On A Minute, Chief…”

Posted on May 12, 2013 by geelw

Hmmm. I get the feeling that this would do much better as a pay cable series as opposed to being on ABC for a few reasons smarter comics fans can figure out, but let’s see if the disguise Disney/Marvel is putting up works. Sure, Arrow is doing fine on the CW, but I have a few issues with network and commercial cable TV in general (too many damn commercials, those stupid pop-ups that obscure the screen, censors and some parent groups being able to dictate content and so forth and so on, shows getting canned after less than a season once the ratings level off and the non-fans and curious are weeded out, et cetera) to get my hopes higher than a “Meh!” when all is said and done.

I’ll wait for the longer trailer to pop up on YouTube later tonight or tomorrow, as I’m sure as hell NOT going to pump the ratings up on a show they’re trying to get more people to watch (Once Upon A Time) just to see a longer clip. I have more interesting things to do at that time of the night (like finish some games I need to review). Of course, it’s GOT to be better than that action-packed but awesomely awful and hilarious Nick Fury flick with David Hasselhoff, right? RIGHT??

We shall see, I guess… And someone get Steranko on the horn! I think this is a HYDRA plan gone haywire…

Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting…

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Well, it WASN’T supposed to be such a damn slow day here, but between the rain keeping me inside and away from a decent wi-fi connection and some issues with a PC game I was trying to get running, it’s been kind of a “Meh” day for productivity. I did, however, discover this little clip from the old Sega Saturn and PC game Enemy Zero that sums up all of today in three seconds:

Yeah, well… I’ll get over it tomorrow. OK, enough time burning – back to the salt mines for me…

Bethesda Underground Mother’s Day Surprise: Oh Yeah, And He Broke That Lamp, Too…

Posted on May 10, 2013 by geelw

Awwww! Here’s a pretty cool and amusing video from Bethsoft with Arkane Studios producer Seth Shain and his mom having a fun little discussion about what he does for a living. Hmmmm… I guess he needs to go buy her a console and a copy of Dishonored for Mother’s Day, huh? Well, that’s what I’d do after telling her I was a doctor all these years. OK, he didn’t, but let this be a lesson to all you lazy sons and daughters out there who get through life wanting to stab your own mom with a cold spoon for not letting you have the car that one time or reading you the riot act for staying out too late and forgetting to tell her where you were going or which one of the soon to be jailbirds you were out with. Little things mean a lot, so get to it this weekend, I say. That’s my good deed for the month, mind you – after this, it’s back to open season on the rubes, so watch it…

Chronicles of the Mind: Truth or Dare (and/or Consequences) For The Egghead Crowd…

Posted on May 10, 2013 by geelw

Based on this video and the game description alone, I’d say cops and judges need to keep a deck of Chronicles of the Mind cards with them at all times. Imagine the confessions and such that would get revealed after a round of this with some suspect who tends to get all talky as soon as they’re distracted by a “simple” little game such as this? Of course, that would mean people across America would be flooding the Griddly Games site with purchases as they’ll want to invite local politicians to attend and play a weekly game session just so they could see and hear what they REALLY think instead of hearing half-truths (or no truths) on assorted cable news and talk radio channels.

Hey, I don’t need a fun card game to know some people are really gullible when they get to gambling (or thinking they’re going to win a prize when they “win” a game), so why not take advantage of that wired in greed and get some actual answers, I say. Once again, Canada comes to our rescue, so make sure to thank the fine folks up at Griddly when you get the chance…

Random Film of the Week: The Window

Posted on May 6, 2013 by geelw

I remember seeing The Window as a kid on TV and probably laughing a wee bit too much because the lying wolf-crying brat who no one believed about the murder he finally DID see was getting his just desserts when all those chickens came home to roost. Seeing it a few times more as I got older (and thankfully, wiser) revealed a pretty sinister film noir thriller with probably the best child performance I’d ever seen in a film that old.

Granted, I’m not advocating the already generally creepy “Child in Danger!” flick or that entire sub-genre of flicks made throughout cinematic history as a “must-see” collection of films if you’ve got a very soft spot for your own brood of lovable lamp-breaking, cookie stealing ankle-biters. However, as a chilling little classic film that’s never been remade properly (at least in my humble opinion), it’s a total spine-shaker right from the beginning…

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Dinking Around With DOSBOX: Anvil of Dawn Lives!

Posted on May 6, 2013 by geelw

I’d been tempted to muck around with replaying some old DOS games for a long time, but I’ve been so busy that I kept putting it off until a few days ago when I dug out DreamForge Infotainment and New World Computing’s ancient classic Anvil of Dawn to see if it would still work. Of course, even on Windows XP (Vista, 7 and 8 are quite awful for my classic gaming needs), thanks to some automatic upgrades, the old disc will install, but not run properly (no sound and a major error in that no onscreen text pops up in dialog boxes, meaning it’s impossible to talk to NPCs, making the game unplayable because you can enter, but not exit conversations). Anyway, I’ve used DOSBOX and one or two other programs in the past, but not on my laptop, so it was time to give it go… Continue reading →

Random Indie Game of the Whatever* Review: Pushcat

Posted on April 27, 2013 by geelw

*Yeah, yeah, it’s been a WHILE since I reviewed an indie game here on DAF, but that’s because I’ve been downloading SO many of them and am slowly but surely going through what I can when I can. It’s YOUR fault, developers for churning out so darn many cool games. It’s a hell of a challenge, kids. Anyway, more indie reviews to come on a hopefully semi-regular basis…Onward!

screenshot__0003_title Damn you, Pushcat! There goes an hour wasted playing you (again). Granted, I did go in thinking I’d get a timed “grab the gems, get out of Dodge” game like my beloved Crystal Mines, but Pushcat’s a lazy bastard and that makes for a much better game that will burn up a few brain cells as it gets more challenging. There’s NO timer ticking down and forcing you to make mistakes and by the time the game’s handful of enemies and explosive surprises appear, you’ll have built up a healthy enough stock of lives that make the going not frustrating at all. The game’s combination of Boulder Dash, Crystal Mines and Match-3 gameplay makes it instantly addictive to puzzle fans, the retro visuals are sharp and cute, and the game has an amazing, catchy soundtrack made up of a bunch of ragtime and other ancient classics that has to be heard to be believed… Continue reading →

Aggronautix’ Debbie Harry Bobblehead Makes Me Feel Simultaneously Younger and Older…

Posted on April 25, 2013 by geelw

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Wow. How’s this for bringing back those late 70’s and early 80’s music memories? Aggronautix is adding this cool Debbie Harry Bobblehead to their lineup of punk rock icons and I’ll bet it’s going to be a fast mover among some really dedicated Blondie fans out there. I’d say that Whomever sculpted this figure over at Drastic Plastic probably deserves some sort of medal, as it’s one of the better ones in Aggronautix’ nicely sized lineup. Of course, Debbie looks a lot better than G.G. Allin, Iggy Pop and a bunch of those other living and dead punkers. Yeah, Iggy is still rocking out these days, so don’t get in his face and tell him his Bobblehead is scary-looking to children and small animals.

Pre-orders are up now on the site and the figures will ship out in August, which is more than enough time for some of you to set up that shrine you’ve been planning for some time that just needed ONE more touch. And if you’re some kid asking “Um… Who’s Debbie Harry???” Pull up a chair, grasshopper and viddy this ancient live footage well:

Of course, that means your Wendy O. Williams Bobblehead has to get moved to a different location, as you don’t want it to see your new acquisition when she arrives in that striped box. I don’t think you want Wendy mad at you, so make sure you give her some space as well somewhere prominent…

Wise Alec & Wise Alec Junior: “Smart” Can’t Quite Compete With Wise

Posted on April 25, 2013 by geelw

No, I’m not slapping around the eggheads some too often disrespect out there for knowing so much, folks. We all kind of need those stupidly smart people who know more than we do, as left unchecked, we’d all be quite dead and still trying to sue someone who didn’t fix that badly-made or never repaired bridge that fell on our heads or can of beans that was a wee bit too spoiled when it was put on that rickety shop shelf. Thankfully, Canada still likes us, as Griddly Games’ Wise Alec and Wise Alec Junior will get brains knitting away with their mix of “Oooh, I HAD it!” trivia and random acts of oddball activities you’ll be tasked with completing. Hey, it’s better than camping out in front of the TV sucking in awful cable news for an evening…

What’s cool about both games are you’re getting a ton of fun at home that some schools won’t let kids have these days. Hey, someone might yell a bit too loudly when they get something right or get overly-excited enough after a win that the on-site security will need to pack them up and put them in a broom closet until you drive down to bail them out. Hmmm… I do recall that sort of giddy behavior USED to be called HAVING FUN back in the day (before the age of Ritalin and other kiddie meds)…

This Week’s Oversight Committee Comes To You From Griddly Games…

Posted on April 24, 2013 by geelw

In general, oversight is a VERY necessary thing thanks to the built in stupidity that keeps all forms of government under suspicion and always questionable in the ways they operate. But I’d say that’s because politicians of all stripes need to change their tactics to actually working for everyone in their areas and not a particular interest group with plenty of gifts to give, stop eternally scheming about how to stay in office as long as possible and perhaps learn to lose gracefully. One way this can be achieved might be having these clever (and not so clever) elected officials play actual board games such as Griddly Games’ Oversight, where their deft maneuvering and manipulating skills can actually work in their favor and no one gets kicked out of a job or home at the end of the day. Well, except for the guy or gal who gets TOO good at the game and keeps winning. You can’t have term limits for a family game like this… but you CAN throw down a curfew just to get the person beating your pants off the hell out of your living room…