Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 14th, 2008
Two of my favorite comedies are Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and the first Mortal Kombat(well perhaps it wasn't meant to be a comedy). Films that have slapstick humor with a good sporting event of where the underdog wins in the end over their lavishly dressed opponents. Balls of Fury was to take that one step further by going into the dangerous underworld of Ping Pong and parody old kungfu tournament stories in the process. With an array of famous character actors including Christopher Walken; how could one not enjoy the game the Chinese call "Peing Poong"?
Randy Daytona (played by Dan Fogler) used to be a famous ping pong player. He lost in 1988 Olympics after losing his composure to Karl Wolfschtagg (played by Thomas Lennon ) and got a nasty bump on the head in the process. Nearly twenty years pass when Daytona, now a Reno side show act is recruited by Agent Ernie Rodriquez (played by George Lopez) to compete in arch-criminal Feng's (played by Christopher Walken)ping pong tournament. However, it's invitation only. So in order to get recognized, he is taught by Master Wong (played by James Hong ) and his niece Maggie (played by Maggie Q).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 14th, 2008
Political humor has been around since the dawn of time. Just go look at History of the World Part One. Of course, these days, comedians aren't getting fed to the lions. In fact, on some occasions they are even invited to the White House. Bill Maher has been doing leftist political comedy for quite some time. I had not watched him on standup in nearly 20 years (One Night Stands) prior to receiving this dvd but I have enjoyed his show Politically Incorrect fairly recently. I honestly hoped that it wouldn't be all political humor but we shall soon see.
This stand up special was filmed on July 21st, 2007 at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, Massachusetts. "The Decider" as a title is a play on one of the nicknames that George Bush has accumulated over the years. Bill Maher starts a strong set of material. His topics range from the Iraq War to sexuality to the current presidential race to double standards to his favorite subject of choice: our current president George Bush. Maher has the crowd firmly behind him as he delivers a near full hour of side splitting comedy.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on January 9th, 2008
Some of my favorite fighting games include the likes of Marvel vs Capcom 2, X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Street Fighter, etc. The appeal of these games was simple, fun fast arcade gameplay with cool easily-known characters (I did always have a fondness for Gambit). Along those lines, SNK was introduced into the series as a logical step around 1999 in the game series SNK vs Capcom. After SNK filed for bankruptcy in 2000, the company re-formed and was called SNK Playmore. In 2005, SNK Playmore decided to bring out a game that played very much to the old versus games in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum. In the last breath of 2007, NeoGeo Battle Coliseum makes it to the states for the Playstation 2 system. Now in my greedy little hands, I explore the game and see if it stands up as a true fighter.
Graphics
The Vs. games were always strong in graphics, you could recognize most of the characters immediately and know who you wanted to start playing with because of that look. NGBC is unfortunately just average. You could spend a long time looking at the various characters that you have to play with because you can't discern between one male fighter and the next. The characters and action appear very pixilated and this game has not improved since the console versions of the Vs. games already mentioned. In some ways, those seem better now; Marvel vs Capcom 2 for Xbox is a good example. Even Mai Shiranui of Fatal Fury fame isn't as beautiful as I hoped and there are few standouts in the background or animation department. While no progressive scan or widescreen is provided, in the options menu there is a Screen type setting (Type A / Type B) which stretches it out a bit. But it is not a widescreen option.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on January 9th, 2008
GPS on the PSP, DTV on the Xbox 360, and Provo gone? - Welcome to the column that recommends you take heavy doses of LSD and PCP to enjoy the sarcasm to its full extent known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. All Pro Football 2k8 is a mother. Well the season mode is, I'm currently trying to beat the Legends squad which is just as bad as it sounds. John Elway at QB, James Lofton at WR and a whole list of defensive squad all-stars guaranteed to make sure they score often and you score close to never. My team's gold players consist of Walter Payton and Jerry Rice. My QB is Randall Cunningham. I actually used my own likeness as a Bronze Tight End. I should have a lot easier time on offense but for the most part my defense does better which is anchored by DE Too Tall Jones and MLB Karl Mecklenberg. But you know what kills me in this game. The short pass. Screen passes murder me and there is no good package I can find to combat it. Not to mention they do it constantly. I also made a team to resemble the '85 Chicago Bears since the game seems fit to include 6 Bears already that played on that team. It was just a matter of creating five more. I chose Jim McMahon (QB), Kevin Butler (K), Steve McMichael (DT, but I had to put him as a DE since they list Dan Hampton already in the game as a DT and William Perry is the other DT), Richard Dent at DE and Jim Covert as OT. Four starred defensive linemen. Quarterbacks are going to run in terror. I really love creating teams & players, I just wish they didn't have a cap of twenty players which I will max out when I'm done with the current Philadelphia Eagles squad.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on January 2nd, 2008
This coming weekend will be the start of the NFL Playoffs and the end of college football. Most people are drawn to play a football game of some sort at this time. Whether it would be an old classic or the newest Madden title, we feel the need to be close to the action. Some of us just really don't care that the Patriots might end up 19-0 and win the SuperBowl and would rather simulate some other scenario. That's why I chose to bring you a football review at this time of the year rather than the beginning of football year like most other columnists.I also chose a game that people might pass up at first glance. Madden isn't the only game in town (despite that whole license lockup issue) and perhaps there are other games out there with stronger gameplay.
Graphics
I've been playing football games before even the first Madden. (Colecovision babie!). With each new system that I play a football game, things keep getting better. Try going back to any of the first few Maddens on Sega Genesis and you can see the difference immediately. The last football game I played was NFL 2k5 on the PS2. All Pro Football uses a lot of the same elements and looks strikingly similar. The graphics do look more crisp and it makes good use of the new widescreen format. However, it simply hasn't changed much since NFL 2k5 and a lot feels like the same software on a newer console. Another problem is when you are playing as the QB and watching passing routes. Unless you know the routes backwards and forwards, you will sometimes miss which button to push to throw to the appropriate receiver.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on January 2nd, 2008
Smack the Wii, Scalp Half-Life, and XBox Live Broken Down - Welcome to the column that realizes that the gaming newsworld is a vacant wasteland during the holidays but trudges on anyway known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. The girlfriend and I are trudging on through Marvel Ultimate Alliance, we finished the Atlantis stage. Saved Prince Namor, beat Kraken and thankful I don't have to touch another water stage. I really don't like them. Perhaps it's all of the "authentic" water-like sounds. Like gurgling. I also received my copy of the Xbox 360 Arcade Compilation disc that was packaged inside the 360 Arcade machine. Ebay is a wonderful thing. I quickly became addicted to Pac-Man Championship Edition. I usually suck at Pac-Man, well actually I still do. But for some reason, I'm just a little better or feel like I am when it comes to this version. I completed the Championship Mode fairly easily and almost beat Extra Mode #2 (3 seconds left, I'm not kidding) but the rest of the modes I'm usually a couple of minutes off from beating them (10 minute timer). I've gotten half of the achievements and it's listed as an easy game on Achievement sites. I think the reason behind that though is so many people in their younger days threw bucket after bucket of tokens into the game or Ms. Pac-Man. However, I did not. I spent my time playing Dig Dug, Pole Position, Mappy & Galaga. So as to my meh Pac-Man scores, I hope to improve. If not, I'll still own you all in Mappy!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 27th, 2007
Sometimes I absolutely adore anime. Great action from the far east that breaks boundaries one could only dream of. Or perhaps to tell an engaging story about a love lost long ago. Once in a while, I hate anime unfortunately. This usually occurs when they break no boundaries, tread over the same story or it plays out like hentai (tentacles in places where they don't belong). So I receive Paprika to review. Hoping I would like it, I quickly stuffed it in my dvd player and found the following:
Paprika is the story of what would happen if somebody built a machine (called the "DC Mini" here, presumably the Mini DreamCatcher) that would allow psychotherapists to enter their patient's dreams and help them understand their hidden meaning. The DC Mini was designed and built by Dr. Kosaku Tokita, an extremely large fellow who is basically a child at heart. The main therapist Dr. Atsuko Chiba uses the device to enter her patient's dreams as "Paprika". Paprika is a fun and whimsical being and in contrast to the doctor who is very serious and laid back. Her primary patient for the film is Detective Konakawa Toshimi. He is having a recurring dream where he is trying to find this killer on the case he is working on. However, he can never make that breakthrough as the killer keeps escaping thru the various scenes in his dream.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 26th, 2007
I remember when there was only one Criminal Investigation show and it was in Las Vegas. The buzz was how they could piece together scraps of evidence to form a case against the eventual perpetrator. Now we have ones in Miami, New York and I heard they were pitching one for Sister Mary's School for Girls. (those nuns are deadly with rulers) However, in the redundant search for DNA and hair follicles; there is one rather unique gem in NCIS or better known as Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The series boasts both dramatic and comedic elements and has to date posted very strong ratings. But how would season four relate to DVD and does the show continue its strong impressive form?
At the beginning of season four, Leroy Jethro Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon) has retired to south of the border and the NCIS force is left to their new leader, Tony DiNozzo (played by Michael Weatherly). Tony does his best to lead the staff which includes Tim McGee (played by Sean Murray), Ziva David (played by Cote de Pablo ) & Michelle Lee (played by Liza Lapira). The season is dubbed "The Season of Secrets" as we start finding out various things about the cast and certain things they have done or situations they find themselves in. Some are interesting, some are provided for comic relief. However, they aren't revealed to the cast until the last episode (the audience sees it in bits and pieces throughout the season) in a dramatic cliff hanger show guaranteed to get us back into season five. (which is enjoying the usual great ratings NCIS has come to expect)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 26th, 2007
Remakes of movies seem to be common these days. Originality is found almost nowhere and more often than not you get retreads of old ideas. Now it even seems that tv movies are getting remakes like The Initiation of Sarah. The original was made in 1978 and starred Shelly Winters and Morgan Fairchild. The remake produced in late 2006 would also feature Morgan Fairchild in a role. But would it be as good as the 1978 classic or would it simply be a silly excuse for teenage college mayhem with sororities and witchcraft?
Sarah and Lindsey Goodwin (played by Mika Boorem and Summer Glau) are two new freshmen at Temple Hill University. Their mother Trina (played by Morgan Fairchild) shows them the sorority that they will be rushing at, Alpha Nu Gamma. She also makes mention of the fact that they need to stay away from PED, which is a rival sorority. We find shortly after that Sarah has interesting witch like powers and is being labeled as the one. From that point forward she is pursued by both Alpha Nu and PED. For you see, both sororities are groups of witches. Alpha Nu, headed by Corinne (played by JoAnna Garcia) and PED, headed by Dr. Eugenia Hunter (played by Jennifer Tilly)want Sarah to join their side. But the questions about who is good and who is evil in this fight for campus superiority continue to mount as Sarah recognizes her true power.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on December 26th, 2007
The Penalty of Death, MegaMan turns twenty, and Microsoft gives the gift of giving - Welcome to the column that will have a Ho Ho Ho for Christmas but most likely sleep on the couch known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. The girlfriend and I decided to start a game together in Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Special Edition) for 360. We played through the first two levels and had a blast. I rotated between controlling Spiderman and Wolverine (and sometimes Iron Man) while she primarily stuck with Venom once he was available. It's a cool multiplayer where somebody can switch off and on in the game at any time. So if she doesn't want to keep playing, she can just switch off and I can keep playing if I desire. Then she can resume an hour later if she so desires. Makes for a game we will come back to a lot. Especially since she is cycling off of WoW. Speaking of MMO's, I finally reached level 20 on a character on GuildWars (equivalent to a level 60 in WoW). Nice feeling until you realize there is so much to do even when you reach the level cap. Oh well, that game benefits from playing here and there for a few hours at a time and not really miss anything.
