The Madness of American Mcgee Returning In An ALICE Sequel

Yes, Electronic Arts(EA) has officially released a teaser trailer for the hugely anticipated, upcoming sequel to American Mcgee's popular PC game, ALICE. The first game presented an older Alice returning to a horribly twisted Wonderland after a family tragedy. Once again, Wonderland needs her help and it looks as if she is going to have to pull out some of her combat skills from her first romp. If it sounds like the recent Tim Burton film don't get confused. The film did share some visual similarities with the game but Alice's character is quite a bit different from Burton's version. The initial screenshots look impressive and subtly remind me of this previous winter's DANTES INFERNO game. EA has announced that the game will be released for the PS3 and XBOX 360 so the game will be accessible to many who may have never played the first one. I remember the first installment fondly and really enjoyed the design as well as the gameplay. ALICE:Madness Returns will definitely remain on my radar.

Immediate's Trailerhead Presents Epic Music At Its Most....Epic

I happened upon a song from this album while listening to Slacker radio in my classroom. After picking up the whole cd I was amazed to find that every song was just as enjoyable and epic as the previous. And I do use the word epic a lot but when I say it here I truly mean epic in every sense of the word. Films like Lord of the Rings and 300 immediately come to mind when I listen to music like this. Your mind instantly pictures historical battles in real or fantasy worlds in which thousands upon thousands of soldiers are clashing in an ultimate battle of good and evil. This is essentially the only album you will ever need if you love epic music and every song features a gothic choir singing in latin. For some reason, this always seems to be a staple element of epic music in general. Prometheus Rising is my personal favorite but, as I mentioned earlier, the entire cd is excellent. I have been looking for music like this for years and will probably not look anymore until the same company comes out with more of this type of music.

Nimrod Antal Does the Predator Justice in PREDATORS

Lets face it. Compared to the first two PREDATOR films neither ALIENS vs. PREDATOR film did the predators much justice at all. The new Predator movie, PREDATORS, starring Adrien Brody, Danny Treho and Laurence Fishburne gives the audience a great action/monster movie experience that feels much more like the earlier films with Schwarzeneggar and Glover. The story is simple enough but works perfectly. A group of humans ranging from the militant to the criminally inclined find themselves stranded on a jungle planet that just happens to be, you guessed it, one big game preserve for predators. As they struggle to survive in the harsh environment the predators pick them off one by one in particularly unpleasant ways. Two new alien species are interestingly introduced and the film brings back a character from the first film in the midst of the carnage. The film was a lot of fun and, although Treho and Fishburne were both more token characters than actual main characters it was still cool to see these actors in the predators' universe. Brody carries his own as the loner hero of sorts throughout. It should be noted that the really cool scene in the trailer showing Brody with a dozen or so laser sights on his chest and face never actually happens in the film. That was apparently just a shameful and totally needless marketing ploy to make people want to see it even more.

Whatever Happened to the Cutscene?

I have fond memories of playing games on my dad's computer as a young boy. Sure, compared to today's graphics they did not look that great and cutscenes were pretty much nonexistant but they were still a lot of fun. Fast forward to my sophomore year of college after my girlfriend(now wife)gets me the playstation one for my birthday. To my astonishment and delight many games now had these incredibly cool, high resolution intros and cutscenes.

The great thing was that you never knew when cutscenes were going to take place. Sometimes there was one when you successfully completed a big level or maybe you would be treated to one right before a big boss fight. All I knew is that they were fun to watch and really added to the gaming experience. Some of my favorite cutscenes I remember were from PSone games like ODDWORLD, HEART OF DARKNESS, and MEDIEVAL. When the PS2 came around most games featured, at the very least, a really nice, full-resolution intro cutscene and, if you were lucky, there were more placed throughout the game. GOD OF WAR 1 and 2 both boasted gorgeous cutscenes that could be played again and again after you played the game.

Now fastforward to present day. The full resolution, highly detailed cutscene still exists. However, we seem to find it less and less in today's typical video game. Because of increasing technology games tend to look better and better. This is not a bad thing. But, because of this, many game developers tend to now use in-game graphics for all of their cutscenes instead of the super detailed, high resolution cutscenes I have come to love so much. Even GOD OF WAR 3, which is still one of the most incredible-looking games I have ever played, traded high-resolution cutscenes for in-game graphics cutscenes.

This is not to say that games need higher-resolution cutscenes to be good games. DEADRISING is still my favorite game and all of the cutscenes were in-game graphics. I can understand that it is probably a lot cheaper for developers to use in-game graphics for their cutscenes rather than pay for the higher-resolution models to be created and animated. To me there is just a deeper richness to the game if the nicer-looking cutscenes are there. So thank you to those of you who still throw in the higher resolution intros and cutscenes. This gamer salutes you.

THE CRAZIES Remake Adds Another Great Film To The Zombie Genre

The 2010 remake of George Romero's 1973 film by the same name proves that remakes can be done right and succeed in more ways than the original. THE CRAZIES takes place in a small town somewhere in Iowa and follows a group of survivors as they try to escape the area after it has been overrun by a virus that turns people into....well....crazies intent on hurting those around them. Timothy Olyphant plays the sheriff trying to get his pregnant wife, deputy and other survivors to safety. Things get more and more difficult for the group as the military gets involved and begins wiping out as many people as they can in an attempt to contain the pandemic. Genuinely creepy at times and delivering plenty of action and suspense, this was a film worth seeing for any zombie fan.

Edgar Allan Poe's Only Novel Is Incredible Read

"I feared that the public would regard what I put forth as merely an impudent and ingenius fiction."

Surprisingly, THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET was the only novel Poe ever wrote. Published in 1838 and usually less horrific than most of Poe's writing it follows the extraordinary adventures of a young man who stows away on a whaling ship. The story is told in first person narrative and describes one unbelievable circumstance after the next as Pym is thrown into countless situations of incredible peril on the high seas and unexplored lands beyond. The novel was inspired by a real newspaper article Poe read and reflects narrative exploration history in a true fashion. The story runs about 200 pages and is very difficult to put down once you start. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys reading adventure or suspense stories.

I'm Still Asking Why

If you are anything like me there are just certain things that are very hard to let go of and accept. One of those things I am still struggling with is why DISTRICT 9 did not get the best picture award last year. The film was a spectacular achievement and presented science fiction in its purest form. I would say it easily belongs in the same hall of classics like E.T. and ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. The movie just got everything right and the fact that it didn't have any big name actors makes it all the more amazing. However, as you all know, DISTRICT 9 did not get the best picture award. Honestly, I can't remember the last time the film I thought was the best picture did get the award. I'll just have to accept that those who typically decide what wins and what doesn't may not look at film from the same perspective as I do. So here is to a best picture that I will hopefully agree with for 2010.