Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, Regular Columns by Michael Durr on November 14th, 2007
Dating in WoW, Hacking in Orange and 360 goes VC - Welcome to the column that pretends to go by an acronym but then realizes it just isn't quite cool enough known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another addition of Dare to Play the Game. I'm addicted to Puzzle Quest. Big time. So much, Sarah and I are two achievements from finishing up the whole bloody thing. Lord Bane and Level 50 are the only things left. I would venture to say Lord Bane goes down long before level 50 since we are both about level 35 and just finished rebuilding Sartek. In fact the only thing I'm really messing with in other games besides that is Smackdown vs Raw 2007 and working on some small achievements there. I'm pretty determined to crack open Half Life Orange by weekend time. I'm split on Mass Effect, I know it looks awesome and I do want it in my collection but we'll see if I can hold out until Christmas.
Posted in: Brain Blasters, Regular Columns by David Annandale on November 9th, 2007
Many a month back, I talked about some essential reading material for fans of the cult/exploitation scene. Time (past time, actually) for an update on that subject, because there’s a recent book out there that, while taking nothing away from the excellent Sleazoid Express and Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!, at the same time sets the bar impossibly high for anyone else wanting to contribute to the field.
Stephen Thrower, having already graced us with Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci (an exhaustive, and to this day unchallenged, study of the director), now weighs in with the monumental Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents. The book is enormous in every sense. There’s the sheer scale: a coffee table format tome that, at 528 pages, threatens to shatter any coffee table it is place on. And this is only the first of a proposed two volumes! Enormous too is the depth: 23 in-depth studies/interviews with specific filmmakers make up the bulk of the book, but these are followed by 118 reviews that are not mere capsules – many of these pieces are essays unto themselves.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on November 7th, 2007
Hacking through Manhunt 2, Germans censor corpse desecration and Maniac Mansion censorship revisited - Welcome to the column that is unedited and contains plenty of swear words like *£ïΘ, &$%*, & *$&# known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Nope, still didn't get to Half Life Orange. *sigh* The girlfriend and I played a whole lot of Guitar Hero 3 which is why you got a handy dandy review so quick. That and I couldn't break my Guitar Hero streak on this site. No sireee bob. A lot of Puzzle Quest was also digested as my character has entered the mid 20's and the girlfriend is in her 30's. Just like our ages except in reverse. Damn, I'm old; but my girlfriend did turn 24 yesterday. Muhahahaa, perhaps it isn't nice to point and stare. But heck I do that anywhere on a daily basis. She also reads this column, I worry for her sanity. I also played Guitar Hero 3 with a close friend of mine, it is really a great game with a friend or loved one. However, the single player I still think has taken a step back, especially with those lame boss battles. I'm having such a problem with Slash, it all starts with him beating me in Guitar Hero, before you know it he'll be taking my girlfriend, my job, and my rabbit. I hope I get my job back. (Just kidding Hominy...and Sarah)
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on November 2nd, 2007
It must stop! Somebody has to take a stand, and I guess that somebody has to be me. But surely I will not be alone. Surely I will have comrades aplenty in my march to justice. Surely the day of victory cannot be too far over the horizon. With courage and determination, we can stamp out the scourge. What scourge? Surely I don’t have to spell it out. Surely you know I am referring to the twist ending.
And one particular brand of twist ending, at that.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 31st, 2007
There is a Mutant Storm brewing, Doritos brings XBLA snacks and the Wii shows up forgetting beer and a HDD - Welcome to the column that shows up early and then stays way too late (and doesn't clean up) known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to the spooktacular edition of Dare to Play the Game (no you probably won't find any other Halloween related material but it will be spooooky). No, I didn't finish Halo 3 (stuck halfway thru stage 8 ) and I didn't even start Half Life 2 Orange. I'm a very sad panda. We (my girlfriend and me) are hopelessly addicted to Puzzle Quest. My girlfriend is nearing level 25 with her character and I'm around 15. However, I have to admit I like my wizard very very much. Fireball and Hands of Power are a deadly combo. I was able to finish my PQ review naturally. I also finished a couple of dvd reviews (The Lair - Season One and The Reaping) and have three more on tap (The Tripper, Red Road, and Poltergeist 25th Anniversary). I also went out and bought Guitar Hero 3 Wireless Bundle for the 360. *keep telling yourself, I will get to Half Life 2 Orange* I have to admit that I like the all black face. That and I can't bring myself to paying $15-$20 for a beeping face plate. My girlfriend might play with me since we have two guitars now but I don't know anybody else I'm showing it off to. Expect those to hit bargain bins inside of 6 months. Just like any other GH "gear" except the actual guitars themselves.
Posted in: Brain Blasters, Regular Columns by David Annandale on October 26th, 2007
I know that some of what I’m going to touch on today is going to overlap with past topics, and so I beg your indulgence. But recent DVD releases have prompted some thoughts on the phenomenon of double-dipping. This is not something that is by any means exclusive to the cult movie scene, but plenty of it goes on here. Consider the umpteen “definitive” editions of Halloween that Anchor Bay has trotted out. But I want to look at a three cases, two of which are admittedly mainstream (though not unrelated to this column’s field), with the third representing an overt stab at cult immortality.
We can deal with the first quite quickly, as it represents one of the most egregious, insulting approaches to double-dipping I have yet to hear of. The current release of David Fincher’s Zodiac has the unmitigated gall to advertise a feature-packed director’s cut to be released in 2008. How’s that for a kick in the face to anyone who bought this? Bring the DVD home, pop it in the player, and be confronted with a product that promotes its own inferiority. That’s some kinda nerve. And the mere fact that it is so brazen points to how unfortunately commonplace the phenomenon has become.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 24th, 2007
Mass Effect LE only available online, DS only releases 21 games this week and there can only be one console - Welcome to the column that only decides to sling mud after they washed their hands completely of it before known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I want to teach the world to sing. Seriously, because most people are just tone deaf! I did end up getting Half Life: Orange Box for 360 and will start playing it as soon as I get off the silly Halo 3 single player. Sure I would occasionally touch the multiplayer but I want to be done with the single one once and for all (provided I don't go back and start playing for the skulls). Everytime I read about Orange Box; I just really really want to play it. I have also asked my girlfriend to unlock the full game of Puzzle Quest & download Bomberman Pack #3 (rumored to dropped today). So what does that mean fellow gamers? One, I'm letting my girlfriend play a game first and will probably rely on her heavily for points to go over in the review. Two, expect to see both HL: Orange and Puzzle Quest under game reviews by this time next week. This is so I can free up my gaming for Guitar Hero 3 on the following week. Whew. I probably won't even download the demo to GH3 (it is out this week) since I don't want to waste the time. Oh yeah, I still haven't played Yaris; but somehow I don't think I'm missing much.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on October 19th, 2007
When, in the 1950s, television became widespread and began to take a serious chunk of the audience away from cinemas, the movies fought back in a number of ways. Gimmicks were rife (hello, William Castle). Colour became standard. Widescreen arrived. But other than colour and widescreen, every other innovation turned out to be a brief novelty, never to be seen again. There was once exception, a gimmick that was more popular than most, never became a standard, but refuses to die, resurfacing again and again after periods of dormancy, and that’s 3-D.
Over fifty years after Arch Obler (ironically, the king of radio suspense) unleashed Bwana Devil, there are signs that 3-D might finally be achieving a somewhat more stable position in theatres. It’s a long way from being a mainstream standard, but it has found a niche. Saunter down to your local IMAX and check out the offerings. Most of them will be in 3-D, and that includes blockbuster films (though in their case, the extra dimension turns up only in selected scenes). In IMAX, 3-D has finally lived up to its potential. Gone are the awkward red-and-blue-lensed cardboard glasses. In their place are gigantic plastic units not unlike goggles, that fit very comfortably over the viewer’s own glasses. Gone, too, is the headache-inducing effect of old-school 3-D. The current release Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure deploys 3-D as we always imagined it might be. The effect absolutely convincing, and absolutely immersive.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 17th, 2007
Lost is found in Half Life, Xbox 360 Elites Selling Out (In Japan), and a TurboGrafx CD game available for download - Welcome to the column that is one oxymoron away from a plate of jumbo shrimp known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. This past week, I became addicted to the game known as Puzzle Quest. Except it was the trial version. I couldn't do it. I couldn't pay down the 1,200 points required for the full version. *sigh*. Everyday I come home I want to pull the trigger. But I know if I do I can kiss my girlfriend, work and normal social life goodbye. But wait, I'm mature now! *laughter in the background* Well I hope so anyhow. When you sport Evil Dead posters in your living room and Daredevil switchplate and figures in your game room, you start questioning maturity. Not that I care, I never want to be fake but I would like to be taken seriously every once in a while too. Anyhow, got a slew of achievements in WWE Smackdown vs Raw 07 this weekend. I got through the season mode and completed the legends and challenges section. Now onto the GM Mode. I even got 3 more achievements in Bomberman (Costume Balls, Super Revenge & Cowboy Fragging) to bring the count up to 8. Though the last 4 are most troublesome and might require some luck. Is something wrong with me when I want to play Bomberman and Smackdown more than Halo 3?
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on October 12th, 2007
One of the great oddities of film from the 1960s (or, indeed, ever) is a modest little horror film by the name of Incubus. Emerging in 1965, it was shot in Big Sur, and tells the mythic tale of a young soldier returning home to become the target of a female demon. His innate goodness, however, winds up seducing the demon instead, and the titular male demon vows revenge, specifically targeting the soldier’s blind sister. This is already a somewhat odd tale for a mid-sixties American horror film, and the fairy-tale setting is even more unusual. But the real oddities are yet to come. The lead is played by a William Shatner (in his last film before Star Trek). And all of the dialogue is in the artificial language Esperanto.
Why Esperanto? Why indeed. Phil Hardy cites director Leslie Stevens (the creator of The Outer Limits) as describing the language as “at once imaginary and universal, out of time and space.” There is no doubt that film’s effect is precisely that. The world the viewer moves through is completely alien, even if the settings themselves (forests, seasides) are very familiar. When I called the film a fairy tale, I did so advisedly. This is one of the most fairy tale-like horror films ever made (and horror partakes of that form of storytelling more than just about any other genre). This is thus a tale of no place and every place, of no time and every time. It takes very little time for the viewer to get past the strange spectacle of Shatner spouting Esperanto (doing so very naturally, I might add) and be swallowed up by this strange world.
