Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 12th, 2008
One doesn’t usually admit they love puppets. There are many vehicles for this love all over the entertainment world. On one hand, you have those who perform standup with puppets like Jeff Dunham. Then you have those crazy puppets who live down in Fraggle Rock. But one can not forget the fairly recent invention of one Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. A dog, sporting a cigar who likes to insult & poop on things. The idea of Triumph did not come from the Conan O’Brien show so much but instead came from the mind of Robert Smigel. Comedy Central’s TV Funhouse was that show that gave the real inspiration or birth to the character. At least I know now who to drag into the street and shoot.
In the year 2000, a show premiered on Comedy Central called TV Funhouse. The show was created by Robert Smigel & Dino Stamatopoulos with Doug Dale as the host. Doug played host to the viewers at home with the atmosphere of Pee Wee’s Playhouse complete with an assortment of puppets. These puppets ranged from dogs & roosters to turtles & cats (and more). Every week had a theme from Western Day to Safari Day where Doug would try to present the show in that format until the animals turned into something far worse. The show lasted only eight episodes. Low ratings and disturbing content led to a pre-emptive exit.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 8th, 2008
Retired NFL’ers want their cuts, Rockband 2 Glitches , and World of Warcraft Patches - Welcome to the column that the first step was not admitting they have a problem but deciding the problem never existed at all known as Dare to Play the Game.
Ha, well the Ike debris still exists. It’s like a fungus actually. At some point, I expect it to sprout wings and engulf my house. Somehow, I don’t think FEMA or my insurance covers such things or the deductible might be too high. It has moved (by me, not spontaneously) to the front where I was going to try and load it into my Corolla. This didn’t work as planned and is now in a neat pile waiting for next weekend. Hopefully, I’ll be able to corral a couple of friends with larger vehicles or better knowledge of what to do with it. I would like to tell what I would like to do with it, but there are children listening. I wish I could burn the pile, but I am not sure anybody wants to entrust me with setting fire to something.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 1st, 2008
Tough Games, GTA IV saving Windows , and Rock Band 4 Ever - Welcome to the column that took Cotton Eye Joe out back and shot him…dead known as Dare to Play the Game.
I’ve been a little busy this week. That might be a good thing, I think. Debris is still being picked up around my home. It’s going a bit slowly since I don’t have access to a truck and for the most part people in my subdivision rather keep to themselves. Shocking I know in this day and age, people are selfish even when offered money. Anyhow, no matter. I will have the sucker cleaned up and looking alright by the time I leave to go to Ohio on the 17th of this month. The column for the 22nd should still run as long as I have some access to a computer at that point. We will have to see.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on September 30th, 2008
The greatest game I ever bowled was probably around 180. A far cry from the perfect 300 but a decent game nevertheless. Most bowling video games are extremely simple in scope. Pick up a ball, roll it down the lane and see what pins drop. Sometimes you get to choose the curve of your ball and even the weight. But that is honestly about it. So when I saw that there was a new bowling game on Xbox Live Arcade, I didn’t think anything of it. However, once I tried the demo I realized this was something different. A game that blended bowling with miniature golf and created something kinda unique. I was so intrigued by the demo, I ended up coughing up the 800 points to make a review.
Graphics
Rocketbowl was originally a very simple PC game and had huge aspirations going into the Xbox Live Arcade format. The graphics are decent with major emphasis on the large variety of bowling balls that you can purchase. The balls look great with my favorite looking ball has to be the classic Fireball. The courses are okay, but most of them feel quite bland. If you are looking for a Hot Shots Golf or Tennis feel here with goofy players to play with, look elsewhere as your character or anybody you play against is merely a scoresheet and a small picture.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on September 29th, 2008
The Dark Knight movie did big business this year and most people were quite surprised there was no official video game for the movie. Anybody who was looking for a Batman fix after the movie either paid $8 to see the movie again or tried to re-enact scenes with their best friends in their basement. However, there was a little relief to be had. The wonderful teams behind Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones decided to go to market with a Lego Batman game. But instead of focusing on the recent movies such as Batman Begins & The Dark Knight they moved their focus to the past. Their inspiration seemed to come from the first 2 Batman films with Michael Keaton and a strong dash of the awesome animated series that ran during the same time period. Would Lego’s humor and strong gameplay succeed or would the jokes go as sour as any thought of Robin in a future Batman movie (especially one with Christian Bale)?
Graphics
If you’ve seen either of the previous Lego-themed games, you kinda know what to expect. Little block pieces in bright and vibrant colors come together to form your favorite Batman hero or villain. The graphics despite the expected kid’s appeal hit very close to home. Everybody on the roster (outside of a few generics) looks good and move in well across the screen. Seeing Joker fight along side Batman or Robin is a hoot (in Free Play mode) to watch. Special attacks like Batarangs or Mr Freeze’s Ice Gun also look equally pleasing. The buildings and basic Lego Build-it’s also look fantastic and fun. Too bad you have to destroy most of them (but at least you will have a blast doing it).
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on September 24th, 2008
Avatar Rights, The Patch that was the Pub , and Lego Batman, Lego Batman!! - Welcome to the column that is happy to report that we are alive and in one piece (not pieces) known as Dare to Play the Game.
I’m still here. Aren’t you glad? Don’t answer that. After a rather rough two weeks, I hope to return to a fairly normal column with fairly normal jokes and fairly normal news which don’t involve me huddled on the floor with my thumb in my mouth and my body in the fetal position. It’s not a pretty picture and I don’t want to repeat it. The impact after Ike is still a big part of Houston and gas supply is a pain in my arse. I’ve filled up my gas tank as little as possible but then I am back home now and work is roughly 55 miles each way. So outside of biking 10 hours a day thru Houston city traffic (yeah, like that even makes sense), I don’t see how I’m supposed to conserve gas. Move closer to civilization as one of my friends puts it. I’ll have you know that most of civilization as they like to call it didn’t have power for a week or more depending on location. We were out of power for 2 ½ days. I might be living in the boonies folks, but it isn’t out in a field somewhere with a couple of guys in overalls speculating over their corn crop if you catch my drift. It is a nice subdivision and gives me a nice peace of mind away from the hustle bustle of the cubicle world. I might move closer, but I don’t plan to be in the thick of things either.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on September 17th, 2008
Ike sucks, Rockband & Guitar Hero tracklist comparison and did I mention I hate hurricanes? - Welcome to the column that is free and there is no need to stand in line for half an hour known as Dare to Play the Game.
There wasn’t a column last week. I know, I’m sorry. I was too busy deciding what to do about Hurricane Ike. I had parts of it written last week time and time again. But I never could complete it because my heart wasn’t into it. My heart still isn’t 100% into it. You can blame it on Ike, or just hurricanes in general. I live in West Columbia, Tx; approximately 30-40 miles from Freeport, Tx. On Wednesday of last week, I evacuated from where I live. I didn’t board up the house because I had lost my pyre-locks and every Home Depot in a 50 mile radius was out of them. No, there was nothing to nail the boards to despite my boards being in great shape. However, I took what was hard to replace and did what I could to make the rest of my belongings safe from a flood situation. I could care less if I lost the carpet (I need a new one anyway), but some of the other stuff including electronics were a lot less favorable if they went under.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on September 3rd, 2008
Learn by Death, More Fable items on the Web, and Europe becomes the real place for gaming? - Welcome to the column that thinks the more you punish a player, the less likely they are willing to take up bondage as a vocational hobby known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. The Labor Day weekend was full of watching various web pages to determine whether or not Gustav was going to come anywhere near by backyard of Texas. Thankfully, it did not and Louisiana despite damage avoided a tremendous disaster. The fact is that New Orleans could have possibly had another Katrina like disaster. They did not because 1)Gustav was much weaker than Katrina and 2)It did not suffer a direct hit on the levees. The barriers held and New Orleans can live and prosper once again. One has to be worried though that since New Orleans is under sea level (like a soup bowl), can it keep avoiding disaster? Well perhaps, but the team of army engineers need to come up with a real solution and quick. The levees in place would have not held anything above a 3 and history can only be rebuilt so many times before it is just that: history. The rest of the time? It was spent doing usual weekend chores and spending time together. We planned our trip to Ohio (airlines really really suck) and we will be required to stop in Atlanta for a connecting flight to Akron, OH. Atlanta? Seriously? I apologize to the people who actually live in Atlanta but what the heck do I do to deserve this? Maybe if they put a big sign over the archway that says “Welcome to some place that isn’t named Atlanta”, I can just pretend it isn’t one of the worst cities in the US. Well then again, it isn’t Detroit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 29th, 2008
Spinoffs are nothing new in the world of Hollywood. Take a successful film, take some supporting or bit actor from the film and put them in a situation that is like the original but not quite and boom you got a spinoff. However, these movies or series usually take time to develop. On rare occasions, they might be released after a mere six months in some cases. For Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control, it was released a mere 10 days after the parent remake found itself in theaters. Could they capitalize on a market that was eager to go see the remake or would the parent bomb and leave this kinda movie in a bargain bin tucked far far away in the back of a Big Lots?
Bruce and Lloyd (played by Masi Oka & Nate Torrence) work in the lab of a R&D department for the United States Government. They invent many items, most of which go nowhere like the Tickle Tazer or Anti-Follicular Device which instead of being used for crowd control, is just used for removing somebody from their head of hair. However, their newest experiment is an invisibility cloak which has been dubbed OCT, Optical Camouflage Technology. The problem is that in a recent test (A very humorous scene involving Agent 91 played by Terry Crews) it simply did not have enough battery life.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on August 27th, 2008
Y’s makes it to Virtual Console, Fable Pub Glitch to be patched, and Space Invaders recreating 9/11? - Welcome to the column that thinks bad ideas are fine as long as you take that rental chicken suit to the proper dry cleaners known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Last Friday, I went to go see the Dark Knight with my girlfriend & one of our mutual best friends. What did I think? It was very awesome, however not as uber-awesome as my girlfriend and the best friend would lead you to believe. First and foremost, Heath Ledger as Joker did steal the show. This is utter fact. That performance alone will get me to buy the SE of the DVD on the first day it is released. However, I think Iron Man was the better movie if I had to pick between the Superhero movies I have seen this summer (with Hulk & Hellboy somewhere beneath those two). That’s because if you strip away Heath, you’re left with a merely decent Batman film. I’m still having trouble wrapping my hands around Christian Bale as Batman. When he’s Bruce Wayne, he seems lost and not really of the playboy image we have come to expect from the billionaire. When he’s Batman, he seems more of a gargoyle (what is with that voice anyway?) than the caped crusader. Furthermore, I had issues with how little the Two-Face villain was used. The special effects on his “face” were fantastic, but in the short period of time we were given to enjoy the coin-flipping lunatic killer wasn’t long enough. Perhaps I am too critical of Batman as I own all the movies (including the one from the 60’s), all of the animated series cartoons (not that newer crap) & even the complete Batman Beyond series. I have in my mind a certain feel for the dark man in the cape and unfortunately for me, the Bale Batman isn’t quite living up to that feat.
