My esteemed colleague and fancy-pants film auteur, Tom Chick, likes to make fun of me for liking grandpa movies. I admit I like a lot of black and white movies, especially horror. Well, let me rephrase that. I like black and white horror movies that don’t involve actually seeing the monster. We all know how crappy the rubber suit monsters looked.
For me, picking a horror movie wasn’t an easy task. I wanted to talk about Devil’s Backbone and the original The Thing (as well as John Carpenter’s), but when it comes to scary movies, The Haunting always wins out. Set in a giant, haunted mansion, the movie is really great at establishing a cold and unwelcoming tone. The main characters have been invited to the house by Dr. John Markway, a college professor and paranormal investigator, to prove the existence of ghosts.
After the jump, I do believe in spooks! Continue reading →
Though Halloween isn’t until Monday, a large portion of the holiday will be celebrated this weekend. For those who don’t have children or are lacking a slutty kitty cat costume, the night might be less exciting. That’s why I want to provide you with Jason McMaster’s Fun Guide to Halloween Stuff!
After the jump, we get spooky up in this piece! Continue reading →
I recently moved from my house to an apartment. During this move, we had to throw away a lot of clutter, some of it dating back to my childhood. One particular box held many of my old PC game boxes. I ended up throwing away most of my collection as I just don’t have the space for them. Some of that process makes me feel ill. I still feel ill just thinking about it. I did keep a handful of the boxes that I couldn’t bear to part with, one of which was The Bard’s Tale.
After the jump, I remember Skara Brae Continue reading →
MOBA is a term that’s becoming more popular in gaming, but how many know what it means and where it comes from? Quite a few I’m sure, but for those that might not know this article is for you. However, I guess we should take a minute to talk about what the hell a MOBA is and what does it have to do with gaming.
After the jump, the Arcane History of MOBA
Continue reading →
Far be it for me to rain on someone’s parade, but protesting Wall Street in Second Life? Really?
I’m one of those people who avoids information about the games I want to play. Rage was one of those titles. Despite seeing it at two different E3s, I had paid so little attention that I had no idea how the story even began.
After the jump, pinning down how Rage stacks up Continue reading →
Among my emails this morning was the following:
Hi First Access Member,
The Hail to the Icons Parody Pack add-on for Duke Nukem Forever is now available! It offers three new multiplayer game modes, four new maps, as well as new weapons. As an early member of the First Access Club, you get it for free!
To get the code for your platform of choice, head over to http://www.dukenukemforever.com/access/
– Your friends at 2K Games & Gearbox Software
I vaguely remember talk of an expansion pack for Duke Nukem Forever. So, what’s this thing all about? Oh man, it’s called the Parody Pack. When I first saw that, my reaction was similar to the reaction of the reels guy having to load the Hulk running in Modern Romance. This isn’t looking good.
In this pack, you get access to a few new modes, including the Hot Potato one where you kidnap a woman. The other big draw is the release of four new maps, all of which are parodies of other games. There’s Call of Duke (Call of Duty), Sandpit (Halo?), Inferno (Doom), and 2forts1bridge (Team Fortress 2) all available for download in the new pack. Each map includes a special weapon, most notable the DFG on Inferno. In Doom, BFG stood for Big Fucking Gun. What does DFG stand for? Duke Fucking Gun? Probably.
Good luck to the 12 of you trying to play online tonight.
Stalker 2, a sequel to a game that people thought would never come out in the first place, has released its first bit of detail. Instead of telling you about the setting or a new enemy, GSC revealed that the sequel will require a live internet connection and will stream bits of the game off of internal servers. Recently, after being asked about their copy protection plans, studio director Sergey Grigorovich had the following to say:
Protection from piracy? Part of the content will be located on the server and downloaded as the game progresses. Permanent internet access is required. Text information, code and quests will be loaded through that connection.
This was brought to the attention of the GSC forum users who weren’t overly fond of this move. As far as I know, this is a first. I’ve never seen a company announce their DRM before telling anyone anything at all about their game. Luckily, GSC has since backed off of the claim, stating on twitter:
DRM was only mentioned as a possibility, not a choice. We’re still looking for a method that is acceptable for both GSC and the community!
Here’s hoping they come down on the side of the gamers.
Rage is due out next week and I’m looking forward to it. The Modern Warfare 2 style co-op has ratcheted up my interest level. However, I wonder how long the joy will last. I appreciate a standard FPS as much as the next guy, but in this world of weapon upgrades and RPG elements, how much fun will “just shooting dudes” be? Not that Rage is a plain-Jane kind of shooter. It has gadgets and dune buggies, but it appears to be missing all of the folderol that’s so popular in today’s games.
This could be the breath of fresh air I’ve been missing. I’ve had quite a long run of complex shooters that require upgrades and thought, so maybe this is just what the doctor ordered. Either way, I’ll be tearing it up in Rage starting next Tuesday.
Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, pulled a fast one on us. They released Dominion without much ado. The new map, Crystal Scar, and accompanying new game mode are faster-paced than the original style of play. In fact, it now plays like an RTS version of World of Warcraft’s Arathi Basin.You start at level 3 with quite a bit of gold and are tasked with capturing command points. You gain experience and gold via a constant trickle that’s enough to keep the action going. You can augment this with creep kills, but it’s not necessary.
Try it out here.
Gears of War is one of my favorite franchises. And one of my favorite things about it is a specific part of the story. But to talk about that would be to talk about spoilers.
So, after the jump, spoilers ahoy! Continue reading →
The first game of Horde mode was pretty confusing. There’s quite a few day-glow green command areas littered throughout the map and a new window on the right side full of icons that are greyed out. On top of the new window is a timer set at 30 seconds, waiting to begin its countdown. I wander around the map, Checkout, for a bit before I grasp what’s going on. This would be the round that seals me in to playing countless hours of Gears 3. Horde is a good time.
For the horde, after the jump! Continue reading →
The first thing I tried after the co-op campaign mode was Beast mode. I knew Horde mode was going to be good and I’ve played the multiplayer in the beta, so Beast is the only unknown. From all the early information it sounded like Versus mode in Left 4 Dead, and that roused my interest. I had my full entourage with me, so we decided to try it out four player. I’m not sure if that helped or not but the results were… mixed.
After the jump, we put the Bea in Beast mode… I guess Continue reading →
The time is finally at hand. I have my copy of Gears of War 3 installed on my shiny, new Gears themed console. My wife Sarah has been wanting her own 360 so she can wreak havoc on Pinball FX2, so it’s the perfect time to replace my current system and get a new 360 slim. I spend the first hour or so transferring my profile and content to my new 360, so I’m pretty ready to kill some Locust scum by the time all is said and done. I fire up the game and hear that familiar sound as the Epic Games logo page appears on the screen. It’s on! Wait, a patch notice. Gah! At least this is the 360 and the patches take about 15 seconds. OK, there we go. It’s on.
After the jump, Donkey Kong… that’s how much it’s on. Continue reading →
I’m all like:
And Tom’s all:
Tomorrow: a more word-oriented entry
