Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 7th, 2008
The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series ran from 1987-1996 and had over one hundred and ninety episodes. Millions watched as Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, & Raphael grew up from little turtle babies into mean, green, fighting machines. They could take on Shredder, Krang and any other bad guy that wanted to turn them into turtle soup. The sixth season takes on episodes 128-143 and spins them into a tiny two disc package from Lionsgate. Over a hundred episodes in, do the turtles still pack the punch they did back in 1987? As Splinter would say, "Be patient young ones, the answer will come."
Let's see, where were we in the TMNT saga? The last episodes of the fifth season saw the Turtles land up on a planet where turtles ruled and introduced us to a couple of new mutants named Groundchug and Dirtbag. True to form however, the turtles were successful in their exploits and sent Krang & Shredder back to the Technodrome. Season six opens with Krang & Shredder in the Technodrome, trapped in the Arctic. The Turtles are busy eating pizza, fighting crime and striking back at whatever plan the bad guys hatch at them each episode.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on May 7th, 2008
Wiimote not to be threatened, GTA IV threatening the Wii, and Nazi killing gets a birthday - Welcome to the column that will not be threatened a second time ahhhhh (and bring us a shrubbery!) known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 40&22. Yes I got the silly emerald raptor. I still have half of my reputation bar for Undercity to go before I become exalted. By every calculation, it is near impossible to be exalted with Undercity by level 40 unless you are of course Undead to begin with. Will I get it by Level 60? Sure. I actually liked the Silvermoon area quite a bit when I was questing there last week. So much, that if I make another character (won't be before one of my characters hit 60) it will be a Blood Elf Hunter. I promise I won't be a huntard either. I played a max level Ranger in Guild Wars and know my way with a bow and a filthy animal. As to where I will quest with my Troll Rogue now? Stranglethorn Vale or Feralas seems to be the popular choice. Naturally I will still try to find any and all quests that have Undercity rep but my concentration will be in this area.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 1st, 2008
Retelling of classic tales has been a fodder for movie scripts for years. Take something that has worked for ages, spin it just so and you got a movie that might be gold. They have been doing this with Romeo & Juliet for years. The results can be great or sometimes they are one step of having the creator roll around in his grave with pain and anguish. Take Hamlet for example, the classic Shakespearian tale about a prince who takes revenge on his uncle Claudius who has murdered his father the King and taken the throne and the king's wife too. It has treachery, corruption and a little good ole fashioned incest to wet the palette. Now take that piece of journalistic tragedy and set it after the fall of the Tang Dynasty in China. Insert popular Asian actors like Ziyi Zhang & Daniel Wu and you might just have something.
Emperor Li (played by You Ge) has taken over the throne from his brother by murdering him. In the process, he has also taken the brother's wife Empress Wan (played by Ziyi Zhang) as his own for the good of the kingdom (and cause she's hot). An attack is also staged on the Prince, Wu Lan (played by Daniel Wu) who has devoted his life to the arts and is found at a nearby village of actors. After an elaborate fighting scene, he escapes with his life and makes his way to the castle to confront his step mother, the Empress (which we find out they shared romantic feelings toward each other) and expose his father's murderer, the Emperor.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 30th, 2008
A question to ponder before we head into this review. What do you get when you mix anime or japanese animation with a healthy dose of John Woo? Besides a ton of falling gun shell casing and cute characters performing acrobatics in the air while taking down a dozen bad guys? You get a movie that goes full speed for over a hundred minutes and makes you realize that this is truly the perfect avenue for John Woo and style of films. However, just don't expect there to be a completely solid story behind it.
In the future, the world is annihilated by itself. However, out of the dust & debris, Olympus rises as a utopian society. The new society has a group of soldiers called the ESWAT (wasn't this a game for Sega Genesis? sorry, *turns off video game knowledge*). These warriors protect the peace and serve in the utopian society's best interest. The warriors consist of cyborgs and humans. Bioroids or genetically engineered humans serve as diplomatic leaders over ESWAT due to their calm and collective nature.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 30th, 2008
Video Game Gameshows, Vegas is Fixed, and more GTA IV than you can shake a hairy hooker at - Welcome to the column that will get Grand Theft Auto IV as soon as we figure out how to pay for the gas and the case of Mountain Dew known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 39&21 in WoW Land. As you can tell from the numbers, I played the heck out of my rogue this weekend. I was questing hard in everywhere from Desolace to Hammerfall. Somewhere around 12k experience away from level 40 and finishing a few Hammerfall quests, I got burnt out. I have about 160 gold, 200 Blacksmithing, 223 in Mining, First Aid, and Cooking (which is really odd to have the same number in three professions). But I'm burnt out because I still only have 7k into my exalted rep for Undercity with 14k remaining. So I kinda quit, I went back to Undercity, took the orb to Silvermoon City and decided to explore another area. I will get 40 on the weekend, pretty much by default. But since I have not quested in that area at all, I figured it was worth a shot. I know I will be getting mostly Silvermoon/Blood Elf rep where I am, but I decided I want to take it easy for the week before resuming the struggle to 40. Next week, I'll have my mount (which unless a miracle takes place will be a raptor) and I will be happy because I won't have to walk around anymore. Somehow, I will still miss stealthing on foot into areas that are 10-15 levels above me. Good times, good times.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 23rd, 2008
Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage, this I tell your brother; you can't have without the other... Chances are if you know this song by heart, you have watched a lot of episodes of Married with Children (or you adore Frank Sinatra ). The Bundys are back for their eighth season of marital hijinx. Once it was just a random trivia question about one of the shows that was first on the little known Fox tv channel (Tracey Ullman and Garry Shandling are two others by the way). Later, it went on to be one of the network's greatest early hits and out lasted almost everything except the Simpsons. So would another twenty six episodes of crass sarcasm and dysfunctionality dilute the product or just keep the laughs coming?
The seventh season of Married with Children had introduced us to an unpopular character known as Seven. This character was written as a way to give the Bundys a third child. However, by the eighth season the character had been written off mostly as a failed experiment. The character would later be referenced in later shows as classic wink-wink jokes to those who closely followed the series but nothing more. The eighth season was more of a return to form for Al (played by Ed O'Neil), Peggy (played by Katey Sagal), Kelly (played by Christina Applegate), and Bud (played by David Faustino) Bundy. Peggy tries to make a free-throw for cash and keeps trying to find ways to make marriage bliss with Al. Bud discovers his cool factor in an episode and suddenly becomes a love machine, at least in his own mind. Kelly is still trying to land a sports celebrity or fill up her brain with useless trivia to win a game show. Then there is Al, who spends episodes starting up clubs against women (No Ma'am) or getting his old Dodge up to the one million mile mark.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 23rd, 2008
Modding in trouble, Game Making on the Cheap & Who exactly is buying Wii Games? - Welcome to the column that will not purchase a Wii game until they make a sequel to River City Ransom known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 37&20. I find it easy to update that particular number than sit here and tell you how I did in World of Warcraft. After getting the Priest to 20, I find myself focusing primarily on the Rogue for the duration of the week. I feel the push to 40 and I'm trying desperately to get Undercity Rep despite the fact I'm a Troll. Getting to Revered was easy enough (did all of the quests in the Silverpine Forest) and I'm back at Tarren Mill. Once I finish off the quests there though, I will be roughly 10k rep away from Exalted. I honestly have no clue of where to go next for Undercity rep. Online guides don't leave much clue either unless you want to collect cloth or do PVP. Origmaar rep is easy (where I'm also revered), Stranglethorn Vale or Hammerfall fills that gap easily for my level. But leave to me to want a stupid undead horse for my mount rather than a Raptor (Troll) or a Wolf (Origmaar). I never can be normal.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 18th, 2008
As we know by now, Dragon Dynasty is the Criterion of Kung Fu movies. They take any Kung Fu movie, clean up the audio and video where needed and provide a slew of extras for us to enjoy. From featurettes to commentaries with expert Bey Logan, it always provided the Hong Kong kung fu fans with a presentation second to none. However, as with Criterion classics, the movie isn't always second to none.
Kong Ko (played by Wu Jing (Jacky Wu))was a member of the National Kung Fu Team. He now spends his off time at an opera house performing for the folks a blend of descriptive dance and his fancy moves. A group of thugs come in one night and try to recruit the young warrior to fight in the underground fighting circuit they take care of. At first Kong doesn't wish to participate. However, his co-worker/love interest Siu Tin (played by Miki Yeung) convinces him otherwise after striking a deal with the circuit gang.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 18th, 2008
Dance movies can be interesting especially when it involves hot sweaty bodies and bodacious moves along a club floor. Did I just say bodacious? "Pauly Shore is on line one, please pick up the white courtesy phone". I'll ignore that for now. Dirty Dancing or Footloose are great examples. Some should be drag into the street and shot. I knew that Feel the Noise looked bad the minute I looked at the cover. What was that clue on the cover you might ask? Produced by Jennifer Lopez would be a very good start.
Rob Vega (played by Omarion Grandberry)is a straight up hip-hop rapper who gets shot at one night while he's trying to perform. His mother decides to send him off to Puerto Rico to live with his father Roberto (played by Giancarlo Espositio)and his family. There he meets his half brother Javi (played by Victor Rasuk) and is introduced to Reggaeton, music that blends Reggae and Hip-Hop. The two team up for a single and eventual album as Rob tries to peace back a normal life which eventually leads him back to his home in New York where he has to face his demons.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 16th, 2008
Does Free Play Mmo's Work?, The Crue on Rockband, and Developing Gaming Skills? - Welcome to the column that developed many childhood skills like reading, riting, and rithemthic but not until they were fifteen known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 36 & 19. That's all I should have to post at this point. You know how I roll. My main, the Troll Rogue spent most of the week in Thousand Needles, mining until his little blue hands turned purple (or would that be black, I'm not sure). . He's well into Mithril now and a mining skill over 200. Blacksmithing is kinda steady, hitting the 190 range. The Dwarf Priest, well he received some what of a blow this weekend trying to help others in Dead Mines. Grouped with 4 others and I did a great job of healing up until the last boss, Edwin Van Cleef. I was aggrohealing all over the place it seemed and not able to get any good communication going (I blame myself as much as I blame others). So needless to say, we died...a lot. Three times until we got it right. Probably didn't help it was 1 in the morning either. I got jack from the instance except for the experience both numerical and practical. Hopefully, I can improve my skills in future endeavors.
