Tagged: gaming

Michael Davis: The Next Level

So there I was playing Battlefield 3 on my PlayStation 3 like the addicted gamer I am. Yes, gentle reader, this middle aged (I’ll be 26 in April…what?) is a serious no joke gamer.

You name the system I have it and it’s hooked up to my big screen in my living room. In fact, except for my office where I write this and my bathrooms, I have a gaming system in every room in my house.

I love video games.

At any given moment I’m playing four games at one time. One on the PS3, one on the X-Box 360 another on the Wii and yet another on an old you-never-heard-of system called a 3DO. Shit, sometimes I even break out the Dreamcast! If you don’t know what a Dreamcast is then you are way to young or way to jaded to continue to read this particular rant.

To this day I think Dreamcast is the greatest game system ever but then again I think telling a woman she does look fat in that dress is a good move, so what do I know? Like I said, there I was playing Battlefield 3 on my PlayStation 3 like the addicted gamer I am until I get to a level and no matter what the heck I do I can’t get pass this level. So when stuck like this what do I do?

I cheat. Duh.

Every major game release, of which the Battlefield franchise is one, has a strategy guide that costs a pretty penny and all I need do is consult said guide and I’m on my way to the next level.

What a waste of money.

I’m sure there are a zillion reasons to pay a grip for the strategy guide but the only reason I can see is to show me how to get pass a level I’m having an issue with. Anything other than that is a waste of my time and my money.

Why is the strategy guide a waste of money if it can help you get pass an impossible level?  Because real gamers don’t use strategy guides…they get the information free on the net. I freely admit I may be additive to gaming but I’m no where near as good as some people so I need help every now and then. Most hard-core gamers measure success in hours, as in how many hours it takes them to finish or “beat” a game.

Not me.

It can take me weeks sometimes months to finish a game. In some cases I never finish a game. I just leave it until I can come back to it and figure it out. So, no, I don’t use the net to resolve every single road block I come across but I’m not a fan of  “puzzles” as in figure some shit out instead of shooting somebody to get to the next level.

I only resort to the net when something strikes me as so dumb (making me even dumber because I can’t figure it out) I no longer want to deal with it. That moment came in Battlefield 3 in a level called ‘ a rock and a hard place.’

I get to the part in this level where a Russian jet is tearing me and my team’s ass apart. To defeat this jet I have to find a stinger missile launcher and take it down. I find where the stinger is but there is no stinger and after about an hour of trying to equip the words that say stinger missile (only the word is there; the missile is nowhere to be seen). I’m pissed as shit so I go on the net to see what simple thing I’m missing.

The walkthrough on the net is simple enough, in fact I did every single thing it says to do on the walkthrough but I still cannot equip the stinger.

Do you know why I can’t pick up the stinger and blow the Russian jet out of the sky? Because the game has a glitch and no matter what the fuck I do I will never be able to grab that stinger because the game is corrupted, flawed, broken or whatever you deem is the right word for something that does not work in a video game.

I’m beyond pissed when I learn (on line) that this is the issue with the game that I paid $60 goddamn dollars for.

Then it hits me.

This is the reason video games are not doing anywhere near the business in the movie theaters that comics are doing. Except for one franchise, Resident Evil, video games made into movies are woefully lacking the punch at the box office that comics have in the film industry.

Video games have a massive legion of fans but cannot translate those eager thumbs from the controller to pulling out their wallets to buy a couple of movie tickets.  You would think that video game movies would be leading box office sales any and every weekend they debut.

Nope.

Here’s my theory for what’s it’s worth why the video game industry still eats the dust of the comic’s industry when it comes to movies.

At the heart of the video game industries attempt to bridge the movie world is a great big glitch. Much like the glitch in Battlefield 3, which I now have to return to Game Stop and explain to them why it took me months to return the game.

Because it took me months to get to that damn level, Dick Heads…duh.

In a nutshell the video game industry is still a babe in the woods compared to comics. Comic book creators, publishers and even the evil empire that can be publishers have a long relationship with the other evil empire, Hollywood.

Hollywood and the creators of comic book content are at a point now (mostly) where we respect each other and (mostly) that respect results in movies like The Dark Knight.

Hollywood does not really respect the video game industry yet that’s why you get movies like Max Payne.

Great game franchise, movie not so much. Truth be told, I really liked that movie but then again I love the Max Payne games and I’m sure that accounted for the reason I liked the movie so much. It really tried (at certain points) to do the game justice.

Therein may lay the heart of the video game glitch, again in my opinion, to get a hit in Hollywood you just can’t depend on the fans of the original material. You are not driving a 40-year old woman dragged to see Max Payne by her husband into a video store no matter how bad she may like the movie.

And she won’t like the movie because it will make no sense to her because she has not played the game.

Get it?

To put it another way, I loved the original David Lynch Dune movie. I loved it because I understood it having read the book. My date at the time, a Sunday school teacher, looked at me after the film and asked, “What the fuck was this about?”

Yeah, she was a Sunday school teacher.

Make no mistake, the video game will get it right and then all (except me because I’m Master Of The Universe!) will bow down to what will be the most powerful engine in the movie business. That is going to happen, when I can’t say but it’s going to happen.

Well that’s my two cents. Now I’m off to Game Stop (greatest store ever) to return Battlefield 3. I’m sure they have encountered this before and will have a fix all ready for me.

I wish I could say that about Hollywood and the gaming industry.

WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold

 

NEW CTHULHU: RECENT WEIRD NAMED “BEST” BY LIBRARY JOURNAL

Prime BooksNew Cthulhu: Recent Weird anthology selected by Library Journal as one of the best science fiction/fantasy titles of 2012.

On the Prime Books site, they posted about the honor. “We are pleased and rather gobsmacked—if delightedly so—that New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird has been selected by Library Journal as one of the best sf/f titles of the year. Congrats to all the authors whose outstanding work made it such.” Plus, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share some news. “We suppose this gives us a fine opportunity to announce we will be publishing Spawn of Cthulhu: New Stories Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft—an all-original anthology—edited by Paula Guran in 2014. (And no, I have not started soliciting yet.)”

About New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird-
For more than eighty years H.P. Lovecraft has inspired writers of supernatural fiction, artists, musicians, filmmakers, and gaming. His themes of cosmic indifference, the utter insignificance of humankind, minds invaded by the alien, and the horrors of history — written with a pervasive atmosphere of unexplainable dread — today remain not only viable motifs, but are more relevant than ever as we explore the mysteries of a universe in which our planet is infinitesimal and climatic change is overwhelming it.

In the first decade of the twenty-first century the best supernatural writers no longer imitate Lovecraft, but they are profoundly influenced by the genre and the mythos he created. New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird presents some of the best of this new Lovecraftian fiction — bizarre, subtle, atmospheric, metaphysical, psychological, filled with strange creatures and stranger characters — eldritch, unsettling, evocative, and darkly appealing . . .

Contributors in Alphabetical Order:
The Crevasse, Dale Bailey & Nathan Ballingrud
Old Virginia, Laird Barron
Shoggoths in Bloom, Elizabeth Bear
Mongoose, Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette
The Oram County Whoosit, Steve Duffy
Study in Emerald, Neil Gaiman
Grinding Rock, Cody Goodfellow
Pickman’s Other Model (1929), Caitlin Kiernan
The Disciple, David Barr Kirtley
The Vicar of R’lyeh, Marc Laidlaw
Mr Gaunt, John Langan
Take Me to the River, Paul McAuley
The Dude Who Collected Lovecraft, Nick Mamatas & Tim Pratt
Details, China Mieville
Bringing Helena Back, Sarah Monette
Another Fish Story, Kim Newman
Lesser Demons, Norm Partridge
Cold Water Survival, Holly Phillips
Head Music, Lon Prater
Bad Sushi, Cherie Priest
The Fungal Stain, W.H. Pugmire
Tsathoggua, Michael Shea
Buried in the Sky, John Shirley
Fair Exchange, Michael Marshall Smith
The Essayist in the Wilderness, William Browning Spencer
A Colder War, Charles Stross
The Great White Bed, Don Webb

New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird
Edited by Paula Guran
Type: Trade Paperback
Pages: 528
Size: 6″ X 9″
ISBN: 9781607012894
Publication Date: November 23, 2011
Price: $15.95

Learn more about Prime Books at www.prime-books.com.

Review: “Wreck-It Ralph” needs no hint book to unlock its fun

The Kid would never forgive if I used any other poster…

Wreck-It Ralph is very much of a new breed of Disney animation, showing both the freshness of new blood in the company, and a new attention to story with Pixar’s John Lasseter now holding court as the New Walt at the company.  Directed by Rich Moore (The Simpsons) and written by Moore, other Simpsons alum Jim Reardon, the film takes ideas from Toy Story, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Saturday Morning cult favorite Reboot.  The world inside videogames is alive; after hours they visit each other, attend parties and if their games were unplugged, roam the halls of Game Central Station begging for spare fruits and power-ups.

Wreck-it Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the antagonist of classic videogame Fix It Felix Jr., the titular hero voiced by Jack McBrayer.  After thirty years of being the bad guy, he examines his life and finds it lacking.  He attends the 30th anniversary party for the game at Felix’s penthouse apartment, and is made clear he is not welcome by the denizens of the apartment house whose job is his to demolish hundreds of times daily.  He attempts to show that he wants to be a good guy, and is told that he is a bad guy, will remain a bad guy, and that he must “go with the program”.  He embarks on a quest to “become a hero”, which he believes will bring him the love (or at least the penthouse apartment) of the people of his game.  He plans to “game jump” into another videogame, where he can take the role of good guy and achieve his dream.  His choice, the new sci-fi shoot-em-up Hero’s Duty, spearheaded by the gruff and buxom Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch).  He makes it to the climax of the game, and earns a “hero” medal, but his ingrained predilection to destroy sends things into a shamble quickly, launching him screaming into the super-sweet cart-racer Sugar Rush, with a cy-bug, one of the baddies from Duty in tow.  He meets Vanellope Von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a bit of glitch code from the game who, like Ralph, wants to better herself and prove she can be a hero.  But according to the ruler of the land, King Kandy (Alan Tudyk), there may be a real danger if Vanellope lives out her dream.  And all along, the Cy-Bug from Hero’s Duty is multiplying into peppermint-striped hordes under the taffy swamps and rock-candy mountains.

The film takes a unique take from the first scene – Ralph is clearly portrayed as the bad guy, but not all that bad.  But in addition, like in many of the Farrelly Brothers comedies, he’s given a reasonable motivation for his unpleasantness.  According to the games opening cut scene, he was ejected from his home (a stump in the forest) in order to build the residential edifice at which he daily expresses his dissatisfaction.  The theme of the film is clearly about the upsides and downsides trying to be more than you were literally created to be – Ralph’s desire is honest, but like Vanellope’s, runs the risk of hurting many others.  The ecology of the game world has a bit of an edge as well – the idea of homeless videogame characters gets a laugh, but it’s an uncomfortable laugh for the parents.

You’ve already heard about the cameos.  Like the aforementioned Roger Rabbit, the film had gained great buzz by arranging cameos from scads of classic videogames and characters, including the combatants from Street Fighter, the cast of Pac-Man, and, The Kid’s personal favorite, Sonic The Hedgehog. Lesser-known games like Burger Time and Tapper make an appearance, the latter being the popular after-hours hang-out of the gaming world.  Like the appearance of actual toys in Toy Story, they give the world a sense of verisimilitude and realism, as well as provide for plugs of lots of classic games. Not to mention a few new ones.  As part of Sonic’s appearance, Ralph will be appearing in Sonic’s new game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.  Even the legendary Konami Super-Code appears in the game.  No child of the 80s can sit through those scenes of Dig-Dug diving into the floor of the game station without being gobsmacked by nostalgia.

But in addition to the cameos the Disney creators do a great job of creating games that have the real look and feel of real games from various gaming eras.  Fix-It Felix Jr. is a game in the Donkey Kong / Crazy Climber mold, and and first look, it looks fun enough to want to play for real (and you can, at the film’s website, as well as Hero’s Duty and Sugar Rush). Hero’s Duty is a parody of modern first-person shooters like Halo, and Calhoun is clearly a kissing cousin of “Fem-Shep” from Mass Effect.  Sugar Rush also parodies the recent tactic of product placements in video games, by having actual product placements.  Felix and Calhoun almost meet their end in Nestle Quik-sand, are saved by Laffy Taffy, and while the boiling “diet cola” lake may be generic, the stalactites of Mentos above it are decidedly not.

The quality of the film can be best explained by an error of The Wife’s – when she saw the level of humor and clearly rich plot, she mistakenly assumed it was a Pixar release.  High praise indeed, and praise that Disney has worked hard to obtain.  The last few Disney releases have been quite a step up from a recent period of repetition, and that’s a good thing.

YOU TOO CAN BLOG FOR AMAZING STORIES!

YOU TOO CAN BLOG FOR AMAZING STORIES!

For Immediate Release

Amazing Stories Seeks Bloggers
Amazing Stories, the World’s First Science Fiction Magazine, is preparing for its return and is now seeking experienced bloggers with interests in science fiction, fantasy and horror, their sub-genres and their impact on or relationship to film, television, gaming, anime, comics, audio works, visual arts, fandom, publishing and science.
 Since completing two well-received Volume Zero Relaunch Prelaunch issues (required for Trademark registration & to honor our friends)  the Experimenter Publishing Company has been notified by the USPTO that it will be granted its marks; during that same time work was begun on the first stage of the Amazing Stories website, Frank Wu has completed the artwork for Amazing Stories’ first new cover in over seven years and numerous other great things have been happening.

In anticipation of the forthcoming roll out of the new website, Amazing Stories is now seeking the assistance and participation of fans and bloggers from across the genre spectrum.

If you think you might like to write for Amazing Stories, now is your chance.  Please email (Steve.Davidson33@comcast.net Amazing Stories and request an information packet.  

Visit the website and the blog and watch Amazing Stories grow!  Http://www.AmazingStoriesMag.com  Blog.AmazingStoriesmag.com

The Experimenter Publishing Company

20th Century Fox Introduces Digital HD

LOS ANGELES – Sept. 18, 2012– Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment today announced the launch of DIGITAL HD™ — a new initiative that allows consumers to download or stream their favorite Fox movies on a variety of connected devices. Customized for today’s digital lifestyles, more than 600 Fox films can now be enjoyed anywhere, anytime in amazing high-definition immediately in the U.S. from Amazon, CinemaNow, Google Play, iTunes, PlayStation, VUDU, Xbox Live and YouTube.

The epic sci-fi thriller PROMETHEUS is also available today on DIGITAL HD™ for less than $15, arriving three weeks before Blu-ray, DVD and video-on-demand (VOD).

Digital HD™ combines four key benefits into one offering with earlier access to new releases, attractive pricing, cloud storage and availability across multiple devices.  Whether the plan involves watching Fox movies on connected HDTVs in your living room, or on your tablet or smartphone on the run, Digital HD™ offers up versatility and convenience.

“With almost 800 million broadband connected devices globally, and millions of people accessing entertainment on those devices, we feel the medium’s time has come,’’ said Mike Dunn, President Worldwide, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “DIGITAL HD™ redefines digital ownership in a way that presents consumers with a full range of benefits in a coherent way, and it allows them the chance to build digital movie collections that can literally be carried in the palms of their hands. ”

“Available in more than 50 countries, DIGITAL HD™ is a brand that will define the convenience and selection that digital ownership brings,” added Mary Daily, President of Worldwide Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “Over time, DIGITAL HD™ will embody the benefits of HD quality and the ultimate all-access pass to the best in entertainment.”

Today’s launch will coincide with the most extensive all-digital media campaign to date for digital movies that will reach over 100 million active movie viewers across online retailer sites and through the No. 1 sports, music and gaming sites.

PROMETHEUS on DIGITAL HD™ is also Fox’s first UltraViolet-enabled title. Additional DIGITAL HD™ new releases this year include ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT, THE WATCH and DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS.

Dragon’s Lair

Once upon a time I edited a magazine called Comics Scene and early on, I had the opportunity to be in Ireland where I was invited to visit animator Don Bluth and his operation. At the time, he had left Disney and was busily working on The Secret of NIMH but also interactive animated arcade games. In 1983, he was poised to unleash Dragon’s Lair. After explaining the premise, Bluth let me play the latter for a while.

Boy was it fun.

While it and the subsequent Space Ace made a splash, they didn’t ignite a new generation of gaming, largely I suspect because these were expensive to create and manufacture and were limited by the technology of the day. Still, Dragon’s Lair proved popular enough for it to be licensed for Saturday morning television. Rather than use Bluth’s studio, the weekly work was turned over to Ruby-Spears. They produced thirteen half-hour episodes and as we approached each commercial break, a choice had to be made, emulating the arcade version. After the break, we saw what would happen with either choice and then the adventure would continue. Nice idea, even if it wound up flawed, and the show endured for one season on ABC during the 1984-1985 season.

Warner Archive has just released the complete series as a two disc set so those who recall the game and show fondly, can relive the adventures of Dirk the Daring (Bob Sarlatte). Despite being somewhat goofy, he was the best knight in King Ethelred’s (Fred Travalena) kingdom. Such feats earned him the love of Princess Daphne (Ellen Gerstell), who of course needed rescuing from the likes of the Lizard King, the Phantom Knight, the Giddy Goons, and the Mudmen with regularity.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWYM3CftmQ&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

A faithful adaptation, it is far from the best of Ruby-Spears or Bluth and is strictly for those the nostalgics.

Holiday Video Game Buying Guide Part Two: The Apocalypse

Holiday Video Game Buying Guide Part Two: The Apocalypse

Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like wandering through the deteriorated wasteland that used to be a familiar setting.  Decaying and destroyed memories of the past in a post-apocalyptic future.  It’s a cozying thought, really…well, if done in a video game and not actually having to live through it yourself, that is.  And the games we feature this time around are as good as they get for post-apocalyptic wasteland survival.  They may not be very ‘festive” but they sure are fun, and actually are front runner sfor some of the best games of the year (in my opinion, anyway).

Want to see what you should have asked for in your stocking?  Hit the jump to read on about these “after the end of the world” scenarios.

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Webcomics You Should Be Reading: “Full Frontal Nerdity!”

Webcomics You Should Be Reading: “Full Frontal Nerdity!”

I admit it. No need to twist my arm behind my back and make me cry “Uncle! Uncle! Oh Uncle, why would you twist my arm like this? What have I ever done but love you!!!”…Ahem. I admit to you I am a nerd. A dweeb. A dorkus-milorkus. I have from time to time sat at a table with nothing more than a pile of books, dice, pencils, and Mountain Dew, all to play an evenings worth of Dungeons and Dragons. I have from time to time, fired up a video game system to bring death and destruction with linked Ions Cannons. I even admit that I know that Ion Cannons are primarily used to destroy shields in the X-Wing vs. Tie-Fighter series… so saying I would use them to bring death was a false statement.   Nerdy enough? Thought so. My collective of FOMAFers… I return once again to tickle your faces, as I bring you another webcomic to toss into your web feeder gizmo-gadgets. I bring you “Full Frontal Nerdity”! 

Born as a sister comic to the popular Nodwick series by Aaron Williams, Full Frontal Nerdity takes the “Gamers at a Table” concept to fruition. Updated every week, Aaron delivers a ton of yuck-yucks to those of us who have spent an evening or two under the thumb of a wicked DM. For those of you who don’t know what a DM is… you may want to wikipedia “Dungeons and Dragons”. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. Back? Good. You may have noticed that “Full Frontal Nerdity” doesn’t have an entry on said online encyclopedia… so, consider the history lesson here over. How about instead we open up the floor to the humor.

FFN places us (generally) at the table of three live (plus one webcam dude) gamers. The jokes generally stem from traditional things we nerdy-nerds tend to deal with. From the DM who invents problems and can’t out-think his players, to the players who simply swing their axe at any problem that comes to them. Aaron obviously knows his RPG jokes down pat. While certainly less accessible then some of my other picks, it didn’t take long to scour through the archives of FFN to determine I had to share it with you. There’s enough pop culture reference as well as ventures outside the gaming, that are too good to pass up. It also didn’t hurt that my fellow Unshaven Comic creator (and my roommate, and one of my best friends of 15+ years….) told me about it, and even helped pick the list of examples to share with you. What list you say?

You walk down the dimly lit corridor. You notice cobwebs flickering in the torch light, in every corner. The dungeon smells of sulfer, rotting meat, and Calvin Klein’s Obsession… And then from out of the darkness a horrible giant list of comics confronts you!!

Roll 2D20, and see if you make your will save before checking these out:

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ComicMix Quick Picks – April 9, 2009

ComicMix Quick Picks – April 9, 2009

A round-up of items from the last few days…

  • Hugh Jackman heartbroken over ‘Wolverine’ leak: Jackman said, "Obviously people are seeing an unfinished film. It’s like a Ferrari without a paint job." Jackman is on a world tour to promote the movie, making his first stop at Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbor, where much of the film was shot. He arrived at the venue by helicopter before swooping to the ground on a zipline.
     
  • Today is the golden anniversary of the Magnificent Mercury Seven.
     
  • Today is also the first day of Passover, so here’s a list of Jewish Superheroes, Villains, and other Comic Book Characters. How they missed Yoda, I’ll never know.
     
  • At last. The State will be coming to DVD July 14th. Get your $240 worth of pudding ready. Buy it and make Mo Willems cry.
     
  • And finally, Dave Arneson, who introduced Gary Gygax to the possibility of roleplaying gaming, succumbed to cancer on April 7th, at the age of 61. Bruce Baugh has an appreciation of his life and times.

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Piñata Games Names Operations Manager

Piñata Games Names Operations Manager

ICv2 reports that Chas DeLong has been named Operations Manager for newly formed Piñata Games. The company is attempting to  gain control of the HeroClix CMG from Topps.

DeLong has worked in production management and is familiar with the genre gaming field having spent the last ten years at Wizards of the Coast and WizKids. 

According to Jake Theis, CSO of Piñata Games, DeLong “is perhaps the world’s foremost expert in pre-painted plastic minis production,” whose expertise “will be a critical component of rapidly turning back on the HeroClix business.”

Catalyst Games is also bidding on a greater range of WizKids’ properties. ICv2 notes, “ Although Catalyst has successfully worked on a number of licensed properties, the company lacks experience in the production of collectible miniatures games.: