Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on August 29th, 2007
Ultima re-born, Super Puzzle Fighter makes a comeback, and My 360 might take a little longer - Welcome to the column that every time it gets posted, a XBOX 360 gets its wings known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Well I finally got my 360 XBOX Shipping Box last friday. For those who haven't had this experience, Microsoft does their job. Almost too well. They include the box, the foam crates, a shipping bag and the tape for the box. Of course a shipping label is also provided. The tape, that was the true kicker. So I get it about 4 pm that day, have it packed within minutes and trudge it off to the UPS store before 6pm. The ladies took it and I was done. However, on the return trip I might have to get them to change the shipping address to my place of work. See they require signature and I'm never home, soooo; if I don't; I might be s-k-e-w-e-d. A good note though, since the 360 was gone; I did play my PS2 some. Mostly NFL 2k5 and Guitar Hero 1. Kinda rough on the HD; but certianly playable. Of course I watched some movies too.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on August 22nd, 2007
Super Metroid goes VC, Bioshock goes Letterbox, and My 360 goes Boom - Welcome to the column that comes and goes just like that chalupa from the mexican roadside eatery known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Guess what, I join the thousands and thousands of XBOX 360 peeps. My 360 go boom. It had been glitching here and there for a few weeks. Not too troublesome, but a pain. Well this weekend, it decided to go postal. It would freeze in the middle of the session, give four red lights, beep for no apparent reason, etc. Then it happened, the dreaded three rings. Nine months into owning the console, thank you have a nice day. I had bought a warranty through Microcenter in addition to the manufacturer warranty that I thought would cover the replacement. That way I would not have to go through the hassle of calling Microsoft, waiting for a box and sending it back. After fighting with Microcenter on two seperate occasions about their warranty, we culmulatively decided they should go rot in a very unearthy place. (Well I decided that for them). Even though they would not come out and say it, their warranty is essentially useless because of recent Microsoft legislation. So I called Microsoft, that did go pretty easy, I was told I would have a box sent in about 10 minutes after I got on the phone. It should be there Thursday or Friday. Maybe it will make it back by Halo 3, maybe not. One slight advantage, the repair center is in McAllen, Tx about half a dozen hours south of here. So here is hoping.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on August 15th, 2007
Metroid - VC, XBLA - The Reality, & Halo 3: the Box Office Smash - Welcome to the column that lives in the dream and only participates in the reality as needed known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Gaming, well I fired back up Rainbow Six this weekend; I did make it to First Sergeant (the one after Master) and played it for a good long while. Of course this was Saturday morning or whereabouts where my connection does nothing but good things. I played a ton of the Stranglehold demo and to be honest I've very impressed. Outside of that, I won a poker tournament online that I should never have. Competitive tournament, one bad beat later I'm left with $4. Somehow, I scrape on; thick and thin until it is me with about $150-$200 and this other guy with $900+. I win the next seven hands to beat him, climaxing with a Queen High flush. Get the achievement as well which was nice. I even played some Guitar Hero 2/80's to pass the time. Got 230k on Message in a Bottle, my hands hurt very badly. I think once the last Lost Planet pack goes free on August 16th, I will start playing that. But anyway, we dispense and move straight into:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 12th, 2007
There are often stories about burn patients who lose part of their face or leave their other body parts horribly disfigured. It is sad and unfortunate. But what if you had horrible chemical and fire burns and had to take refuge in warehouses and underground? You had the strength of ten men, but could create a mask that you could use to duplicate your enemies or be the man you used to be? However, that face only lasted 99 minutes. This is the story of Darkman. A trilogy of movies that developed a cult following for its subject matter and campy presentation. Part action, part sci-fi, part thriller. But a great time as long as you left your brain at the door.
The first film directed by Sam Raimi (Spiderman, Evil Dead) features Liam Neeson as Dr. Peyton Westlake, a brilliant scientist on the verge of finding the solution to liquid skin cells or synthetic skin. This in time would help burn patients or disfigurements replace unwanted and dead skin tissue. The problem is he can only make it last for 99 minutes. One day his lab gets ransacked by a group of thugs led by Robert G. Durant (played by Larry Drake) who are in search of a memorandum. Peyton is horribly burned in the fire and presumed dead when his body can't be found in the explosion. He later resurfaces as a John Doe burn victim who is given a radical new treatment that cuts off his nerve impulses. He breaks out of the hospital and retreats to a condemned warehouse. He then goes back to the wreckage of his lab and tries to salvage his work. Using what is left of his work and vigilante money that is collected from thieves and bad guys that he fights he attempts to recreate faces of his enemies so that he may take revenge on the Durant crime syndicate. He also attempts to get back in touch with his girlfriend (played by Frances McDormand) by putting on his face and spending time with her. However, he realizes he can only put on the charade for so long and continually he descends back to the darkness as Darkman. He prevails over Durant, but the pain and suffering he endures from day to day stays with him.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions, Regular Columns by Michael Durr on August 8th, 2007
Crash for Cancer, 360 Internals examined & Quake: DS Time- Welcome to the column that is often alarming like that heart attack you received when you caught your parents in the act known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Life is strange. But in the same breath, it is awesome. I am happy to report that "the girl" said yes to the baseball game on friday, and I will be going to see the Astros and Brewers with her. I am a fan of neither team (I'm a Phillies fan actually) but I could care less about baseball for once, I am going for the ummm..atmosphere. The atmosphere is about 5'4 with blond hair and blue eyes. That's all that needs to be said. Today this article is brought to you by Jackyl (the band I'm listening to currently) and I just wonder where the heck is my copy of Chainsaw Hero? Whew I need help. That poor, poor girl. Speaking of girls who suffer from the Kedrix touch, we move right into:
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on August 7th, 2007
Simplicity takes time. That's the only logical explanation as to why a chess game has not appeared on XBOX Live Arcade until the team @ Freeverse & Strange Flavour decided to release some popular board games for us to enjoy. The give us Checkers, Mancala, Reversi as well as Chess for a very tidy 400 Microsoft Points ($5). While the release is far from perfect, it is one of those cases where we take what we can get.
Graphics
The four board game treat comes to us in what we hope is decent graphics. How hard can it be to represent black, white and a matching gameboard? Thankfully there is no eyesore here. Pieces are easily decipherable and you can tell what obstacles are in your way as you try to win the game. One notable exception in all of this, the chess game does not start with a top down view; it's slanted. However, with the analog sticks you can move the camera's perspective but its not perfect. This game also supports XBOX Live Vision which is mostly a bad thing in one-on-one encounters. Imagine getting your gaming rear handed to you by some five year old kid. Now that's bad enough on its own but think of his face laughing and mocking you. Yeah, there is nothing that will give you more humiliation than the sincere and disrespectful face of a snotty kid as he shows his Checkers poweress.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 6th, 2007
In the United States, we tend to take for granted; influences. In the case of movies, we take certain film styles for granted. We just figure that they always existed. Doesn't really matter where they came from, we just know we like that style of movie; over and over and over again. Enter Hard Boiled, a 1992 film directed by John Woo. This featured Chow Yun-Fat as Tequila, a hard nosed cop who is on a quest to derail an arms smuggling ring that has both cops and innocent civilians dead in its wake. The movie also featured Tony Leung as Alan, an undercover cop who is in deep cover as a Triad hitman who tries desperately to keep his sanity and protect his true identity. But what set Hard Boiled apart from other films and that was duplicated time and time again was over the top action and no-nonsense gunplay. In the first five minutes alone with the teahouse scene, you see more dead bodies fly across the screen than most action movies deliver in a couple of hours. But it wasn't just dead bodies, you can rent George Romero Dead movies if you want to see lifeless bodies. It was the style, you had the imagery of three guns emptying from the bottom of a birdcage, Tequila jumping in the air and killing two gangsters with a gun in each hand; and sliding down a staircase with such grace. This would continue in other scenes where similar heroics would come into play. For over two hours, your breath would escape you and somehow return by the final bell.
Hard Boiled was a film that made no apologies and has only amassed popularity as time goes on. The term cult classic would be more of an insult to the film as it has gone beyond that premise. In addition to two fine leading roles, the film included many popular supporting roles; primarily on the villains' side. Anthony Wong played the devious Johnny Wong, a character that had no morals and whose only real mission was to control the arms smuggling ring of China and get all the money in the process. Phillip Kwok (also known as Cheung Jue-Luh) played the role of Mad Dog (or One-Eye), the action counterpart to Wong's character as he enforced what Johnny didn't want to dirty his hands on. These characters developed a chemistry that produced memorable dialog with and without words. This was especially true when it came to the characters of Tequila and Alan once they get on-screen together. It was a flow of actions and reactions that had you enthralled for every last phrase that was used. The film's only negative would be the scenes where they decide to spend an inordinate amount of time surrounding getting the infants to safety. Once you dive into the extras on Disc Two, you start understanding that the babies actually were to be the main plot point or original concept of the film. So as a result they contributed to a major scene. The movie is still a masterpiece even with that small discordance with its amazing action and a hard running story that lead to be an influence of many future Asian and American action movies.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions, Regular Columns by Michael Durr on August 1st, 2007
Missionaries Online, 360 Price Drop and Live Chess? - Welcome to the column that promises to abuse its readers for cash and prizes known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Life just keeps on rolling for me. I bowled last friday, did fairly well. I also won 4 tickets to a future astros game(8/21) as a door prize. But yet, I have nobody to take. I mean I asked "the girl" if she wants to go but she doesn't like baseball. She might end up going and that would take care of the two tickets I already had from a company event thing (8/10). But the four are something of a mystery and I'm honestly thinking that they might just go to waste. Sad, because actually those 4 are really good tickets. I'm a Phillies fan by choice so while I like baseball;watching the Astros play isn't really all that entertaining. Unless you like trainwrecks.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on July 29th, 2007
Guitar Hero 1 made big business. Guitar Hero 2 made bigger business and became a phenomenon. Due to the success of the first two, Activision decided to release a stand-alone themed Guitar Hero. After some deliberation, it was decided they would release Rocks the 80's including tunes from my favorite decade. Included in that decade is my favorite type of music which is well represented: hair rock. Long hair, lipstick, blistering guitar solos and high pitched screams. Quite possibly the decade that most had in mind when they first or saw or heard about Guitar Hero. The Red Octane team was taking a chance on a smaller setlist but possibly paving the way for future themed releases. I am happy to say that the effort is a great step in the right direction but not one without bumps in the road.
Graphics
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 29th, 2007
In 1997, Hal Hartley put out a film called Henry Fool. It was the story of an introvertish garbage man Simon who makes friends with Henry Fool, a witty but talent-less novelist. Simon ascends to be a great poet while Henry finds the bottomless pit of alcoholic brew. However, the plot turns around and Simon helps Henry to flee the country since he has a criminal past. The movie did seem to hint at a sequel but didn't see one until 10 years later. Fay Grim tries to pick up where Henry Fool left off. It includes many of the same cast of characters.
Parker Posey returns as Fay Grim, the wife of Henry Fool (she took back her maiden name after his death). She becomes the focus for this movie. Donning a leather coat with fake pockets, she goes around Europe and the Middle East in search of Henry's missing notebooks. These notebooks apparently contain some government secrets that lead to a game of deadly espionage. Back at home, Simon Grim (played by James Urbaniak) is serving a prison term for keeping his mouth shut regarding Henry Fool's escape from the country. Ned (played by Liam Aiken)(Fay's 14 year old son) and Angus James (played by Chuck Montgomery)(Simon's publisher) also return as important characters for the sequel. However, new characters are on foot here too. The most important is the role of Agent Fulbright (played by Jeff Goldblum). Jeff as Fulbright does an excellent job of being the main opposition of the film as he is trying to investigate the notebooks and seeing if he can convince Fay to do his dirty work for him.
