Monthly Archives: December 2008

2008 Game of the Year Awards

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code>As we look back on 2008 I wanted to take a moment to look back on some of the great moments in gaming and announce our 2008 Skewed and Reviewed Game of the year winners. There were many really top notch games this year and it was tough coming up with the final list.


Left 4 Dead
Winner Game of the Year
The most addictive game I have played all year. Great Solo and Team Play, intense action and loads of fun. This game has it all.
PC, X-Box 360


Fallout 3
Winner Role Playing Strategy Game of the Year
From the vast open world to explore, the innovative combat system
and the versatility of gameplay, Fallout 3 has it all.
PC, X-Box 360, PLay Station 3

Little Big Planet
Winner Best Family Game
Let your Imagination go free with this charming and fun adventure.
PS 3

Dead Space
Winner Scariest Game of the year.

A fantastic action thriller that is by far the scariest game I have ever played.
Sent to investigate a damaged ship. It soon becomes clear something has gone very wrong as
you and your crew are under attack by legions of mutated creatures.
Great story and action, plenty of thrills and a movie quality story make this a must own.

PC, PS3, X-Box 360


Far Cry 2
Winner Best Gaming Enviornment.
The next step in action shooters. Amazing graphics and action, not to be missed as players
battle through deadly enemies in Africa. Online and Solo play included.
PC, PS3, X-Box 360

Rock Band 2
Winner Best Music Game of 2008(Tie)
Form your own band as you and your friends rock to some of the biggest hits in pop and rock.
Sing, Play Drums, Bass, and Guitar online or offline and become a legend.
PS3, X-Box 360, Wii,

Guitar Hero World Tour
Winner Best Music Game of 2008 (Tie)
Drums and Singing come to Guitar Hero as players compete online and offline to
become a Rock Legend. Features tons of hits from Van Halen to Steve Miller.
PS 3, X Box 360

Lego Batman
Winner Best Game For Younger Gamers.
Great Game for all ages. Play as Batman and Robin or the hordes of bad guys
as you battle to save or destory Gotham City.
PS 3, X-Box 360, PC, PS 2, Nintendo DS

World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King
Winner Best Expansion and Best Fantasy Game
The new expansion to the massively popular MMOPG World of Warcraft.
More lands, creatures, adventures, items, weapons, spells, and more as
well as the new Hero Class. This is a must for Warcraft fans.
PC

Call of Duty: World at War
Best 3D Shooter
Following the huge success of the series, the latest game looks at battles
of WWII from The Pacific Rim to Russian front. Great action, intense story,
as well as intense multiplay make this one of the biggest games
of the year.
PC, PS3 , X-Box 360,

Command and Conquer Red Alert 3
Winner Best RTS Game
The latest in the great Command and Conquer series. Play as one of three sides each
with their own unique units, objectives, and abilities. Intense RTS action and
full motion video cut scenes. Multiplay and Solo Play.
PC, X-Box 360

Resistance 2
Best Console Shooter
Intense action shooter continues the fight from the epic first titles. Intense action, story,
graphics, and fun. Online and Solo play make this a must own for PS 3 owners.
PS 3

Xmas Contest, Win Prizes!!! Xmas Day Only!!!!

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Merry Christmas!!!!

I have a special treat for you. E-mail me by clicking the @ symbol on the main page, and you can win an Age of Pirates download code for PS 3 or X-Box 360. I also have Battleforge Beta Keys.

Supplies are limited, just shoot me an e-mail with the word contest in the title and tell me which ones you would like. Contest ends Midnight Dec 25th.

Valkyrie

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Bringing historical films to the screen can be a challenge for a number of reasons. First, the filmmakers often have to condense events that happened over several weeks and months down to a two to three hour format. Secondly, holding the audience can be tricky especially when it covers an event where the outcome is well known. The final and perhaps most important obstacle is that of casting. For every George C. Scott who nailed the iconic figure of Patton there are countless others that have to be kind, not been up to the task.

Such is the case with the new World War II drama “Valkyrie” which follows a group of Nazi officers who plotted to kill Hitler and end the war. The film stars Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg, a respected officer who is recruited into a conspiracy of high ranking Nazis and other officials who plan to end the war by killing Hitler.

The film concentrates on Von Stauffenberg’s attempt to recruit others into the plan as he attempts to devise the best way for he and his fellow conspirators to carry out their plan and in doing so, keeping suspicions of themselves. This is no easy task as not only must they make sure that only people whom they trust to be likeminded or sympathetic to their objectives can be difficult as the simple mention of their intentions is treason and would result in all of them being put to death.

The plan is named Valkyrie after a policy that was put in place to restore order should anything catastrophic happen. A unit under the command of General Friedrich Fromm (Tom Wilkiknson) would be dispatched to secure vital locales. This is key to Von Stauffenberg’s plan as he realizes that should their plan succeed, they will have to work quickly to round up the S.S. and install a new government before anyone else could. The S.S. would be accused of starting the coup, and with them and Hitler out of the picture it is assumed they will soon have complete control of the country.

As the film unfolds with amazingly very little tension I started to note at how badly out of his league Cruise is especially during his scenes with Terrance Stamp, Bill Nighy and Kenneth Branagh. Director Bryan Singer does a good job establishing the look and tone of the film, but sadly the film never really builds tension. Once again the issues fall on Cruise who is so utterly out of place that you would swear that he was playing himself. The cast refrains from any German accents which was supposedly at the request of Singer, but sadly this only further alienates Cruise from the mostly European cast. His Von Stauffenberg is a very bland character who has a wife and children, but aside from that we learn little about him as a person and how he came to take the steps he did. Many people were unhappy with Hitler and there were many prior attempts on his life, but we learn little more than a desire to preserve Germany. I also would have liked to get more back story on his fellow conspirators as Von Stauffenberg most surely did not act alone in life and in the film.

As it stands the numerous release delays underscore that what was a good idea quickly becomes weighed down by Cruise and a script from Oscar winner Christopher McQuarrie (who wrote the amazing “The Usual Suspects”)that plays a bit too loose with historical events for my taste.

2 stars out of 5

Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks Talks About Intro 3D and Monsters VS Aliens.

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Recently I got the chance to attend a special function with Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks about their upcoming movie “Monsters VS. Aliens”. Katzenberg also went into great details and fielded questions about the new 3D technology that Dreamworks will be making a key point of all future animated and eventually live action films.

The presentation opened with Jeff talking about how the new 3D is a new age in cinema. He equated it to the 1920s moving from silent to talking films and in the 30’s the transition from black and white to color and said it would not only be a better experience for the viewers but it would be the next revolution in film as “it is not your fathers 3D”

Katzenberg continued that the old 3D or Anaglyph used the old red and blue lenses and caused many viewers to complain of headaches and blurry images, and nausea. He then went on to say that he did not know of to many products that made their customers sick and still had success. Jeff then stated that the old 3D was a gimmick used to make bad movies look better than they were. With the advent of High Definition Flat Screen televisions, Blu Rays, and surround sound, home presentation has moved significantly forward while theaters have stayed the same, and this is an attempt to change that.

The new process produces a good image via comfy glasses with a polarized lenses and a digital projector that replaces the old format of side by side projectors which often lead to streaking and other issues. By going digital, the movie is flicker free and in synch and allows immersion so the audience can believe they are on the Titanic or swinging through New York with Spider-Man and thus can replicate the greatest of all senses, sight.

The legendary filmmaker D.W. Griffith was recognized as creating the Pan shot which in time gave audiences such memorable moments as moving from the stars to a space battle in “Star Wars” and that the D in 3D will now be looked at for the emotional dimensionality it will allow in films as well as greater storytelling and visuals. Katzenberg then confirmed that George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron are all working with 3D.

The next segment dealt with how sound evolved from records to 8 Tracks to cassettes and eventually CD’s which could replicate a nearly flawless recording. Jeff said that the new 3D will be a leap ahead and will capture the essence of being there and that he loves going to the movies and goes on Friday and Saturday nights as movies are the #1 recreation value as in the tough economic times people still go to movies as the value is still better than most other forms of entertainment and commented that it costs more to go to a museum than it does a movie.

By partnering with Intel and H.P, Dreamworks has retooled their studio so that all future animated films will be done in the new Intro 3D which will allow them to approach a new way to do films as in the past, movies were made then converted from 2D to 3D whereas now, they will be crafted in 3D every step of the way.
At this point we donned our glasses and were treated to three scenes from the upcoming film after a brief introduction of the characters.

Seth Rogan voices the Blob
Will Arnett voices the Missing Link
Hugh Laurie voices Dr. Cockroach
Stephen Colbert voices the President
Kiefer Sutherland voices General W.R. Monger
And Resse Witherspoon voices Susan.
The film will also feature Rainn Wilson and Paul Rudd, voiced characters.

The first scene was an epic segment where the military surrounds an alien object as the President attempt to communicate with it. In a great parody of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Beverly Hills Cop” things go badly and a battle ensues. The FX were amazing as the debris and planes darting about gave the illusion of being there rather than watching a film projected out from the screen. There was a clear depth to what was on the screen and it was truly amazing.

After this segment, Jeff informed us that General W.R. Monger has been holding monsters in captivity and thanks to the desperation of the hour, believes that it is time to unleash them against the alien invaders. The segments that followed showed the planning stages and an introduction of the characters.

The final scene was a tour de force as Susan and the monsters battle the giant alien in an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge which beings in downtown San Francisco. The sense of scale and depth again stood out and was stunning to behold.

As the film portion finished, we were allowed to ask questions. I asked that since 3D is currently being embraced by the animated and horror films in development, how long it would be before other genres embraced the change.

Katzenberg said that it has begun as “Avatar” which will mark James Cameron’s return will use 3D as will future projects from the directors named earlier. He said that there is much debate in the industry regarding the use of the technology and that it is only to be used for event films, and started that Disney has over 17 3D films in development. Jeff than said he hoped that one day films such as “Juno” would be able to be enjoyed in this process.

Jeff continued that they currently have 2,500 screens in the U.S. ready to show the film in the new format when it arrives in March. They had hoped to have 4,000 but the economy changed that as it costs roughly 100K to upgrade a theater to the new format. When asked about the overseas markets he informed us that they are a year or two behind and currently have plans to get them up to speed. Katzenberg than said that when “Shrek Goes 4th” arrives in 2010 they plan to have 7,500 screens converted.
The next question asked about the home applications for this technology and Jeff stated that light is a real issues as are 50 inch screens as unless you sit close and in total darkness it will diminish the effect. He then said that in time this will come and gaming and sports will likely be the first applications of it in the home.
Jeffrey again called the old style 3D a gimmick and said that it breaks the bond of storytelling and does not allow the audience to be fully included in the film.

It was pointed out that the first scene we saw was completed over 6 months ago where the last one was done six weeks earlier and it was clear that the designers are taking even greater leaps as they learn more about the technology.

The film was said to have tested well with random groups who have been very excited over what they have seen and that over 30 million has been spent on the process.
As such, there will be an additional $5.00 cost to see the films in the new format, but audiences will be given the option to see the film in the traditional format for the usual price if they chose.

Jeff than said that Dreamworks is more focused on authoring tools for making new films while Disney has been working on repurposing old 2D films like “Toy Story” to the new 3D format.

It was also stated that the new format would help lessen the 6 Billion lost in piracy as filming with a recorder will be useless, and the glasses cannot be adapted over a recording device. In time, savings would happen as it costs almost $800 to make a print of a film but roughly $2.00 to make a digital disc.

Jeff left us with this interesting bit of news that they are so confident that this is the wave of the future that they are working with the words top manufacturer of glasses to develop designer sunglasses that also will function as 3D glasses and that in 10 years time the goal is to create the 3D effects without the need of glasses through a new process that currently is limited to small displays.

Not only did the footage look great, but getting to see the future of cinema made me wonder what they thought back in the day when the silent pictures became a thing of the past with the advent of sound in movies.

Gareth Von Kallenbach

John Lehr talks 10 Items or Less and Playing the Caveman

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Recently I got the chance to speak with the very funny John Lehr about the upcoming season of 10 Items or Less. I want to thank John for taking the time to speak with us.

GVK: What was the inspiration for the show and for your part in the series?

JL: We actually started developing the show four years ago. My producing partner Nancy Howser who directs all of our episodes did a movie called Memron which was the winner at Slamdance. The improve style worked well and we wanted to try it in a comedy format. Shows like WKRP in Cincinnati and Mary Tyler Moore were in the vein where weird characters were in an everyday setting.

There was a grocery strike in L.A. a few years back and that is where we got the idea to set the show in a grocery store as oddly enough, it had never been tried before and we saw so many ways that we could go with the premise as it was an opportunity for people to have crazy ideas and play them straight.

GVK: To what do you attribute the shows success as often comedies like Arrested Development that challenge the audience fail to gain a large following of viewers?

JL: We gained a 10% increase in viewers in our second season which is almost unheard of. I was called by a rep at TBS and told that the New York Times had a great review of us and I got really worried that this was a death knell for the show.

We have been very lucky to be walking on the path were the critics like us and the audience digs us. I am from Kansas and went to school in Illinois so being from the Midwest the show is not aimed only at a New York or L.A. audience as so many shows are.

GVK: What have been some of the great moments in filming?

JL: We have so many crazy moments in the show. We film in an actual grocery store while it is open and this has lead to some surreal situations. I heard about Turkey Bowling where people knock over 2 liter bottles with frozen turkeys. I knew we had to have this in the show so we were filming the scene and a customer came down the aisle. She had no idea we were filming and thought we were crazy.
Another time a guy with a gun came in and tried to rob the store while we were filming in another section. We looked over in produce and saw a guy being handcuffed and being lead out.

I am also get along with the store manager Johnny and any time anyone ever has a Diva moment all we need to do is look around us and see real people hard at work and realize how lucky we are to do what we do.

GVK: What can viewers look forward to in upcoming shows?

JL: We have an episode where Leslie gets a cease and desist order from Paramount after he plans to hold a Star Trek convention in the store. In order to comply with the order Leslie decides to hold a Star Trok convention and makes slight changes to the theme. We did the show like an episode of Star Trek and they have to go into a Joffries, not Jeffries tube to try to make repairs and there is an explosion and costumes as well.

Leslie also finds out he is 1 1/16th Native American and really decides to embrace this. He turns the walk-in into a sweat lodge and things like that. There is also an episode where we celebrate the 130th anniversary of the store and Ingrid is mistaken for a polygamist.

GVK: How long does it take you to get into makeup as one of the Geico Cavemen and why do you think the Caveman series failed to catch on despite the continued popularity of the commercials?

JL: We have the top makeup and prosthetics guys in town doing it, and it takes about three hours. It is uncomfy as the body does not like to have things glued to it especially hair. But it is better than having to have a real job and I really love it. Once all the makeup is on it really frees me up.
I think the show failed as Disney/ABC are trying to find out what America wants as they have been trying to get a comedy to go and perhaps had to many chefs in the kitchen.

GVK: Thank you,

JL: Thank you and I appreciate you helping spread the word on the show.

The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

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In 1951 Director Robert Wise helped create one of the most insightful films of the dawning Science Fiction genre. At that time, the growing theme was the good folks of Earth having to defend ourselves against all manner of evil creatures from beyond.
This tone has carried over to modern day as the notion of hostile invaders from beyond has become part of our cinematic and written culture.
The ironic thing about “The Day The Earth Stood Still” was that it was a cautionary tale that stood apart from the genre films of the day. Instead of an all out assault on humanity, a visitor named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) came to deliver a message that change was needed or else there would be dire consequences. Klaatu told the people of the earth that they must learn to live in peace and make war a thing of the past or they would run the risk of being destroyed by more powerful races that would see them as a threat to their peaceful ways.

Klaatu had a powerful robot named Gort who would destroy any hints of aggression and used him to get his message of the need for peace across.

Now in 2008, 20th Century Fox has recreated this classic tale with a star studded cast and a large production budget.

In the new version, Jennifer Connelly stars as Helen Benson, a scientist who is raising her stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith), who still mourns for his father who was recently killed while serving in the gulf. One night, Helen is taken into custody by agents who whisk her and other scientists to a secret conference where it is learned that an object in on a collision course with Manhattan and that due to a lack of warning, there is no time to evacuate the city.

Just when the gathered group prepares for the worst, the mysterious object lands in the middle of Central Park and after being surrounded by the military, produces a lone being from the interior of the spherical object. Just as Helen is about to make first contact with the being, he is shot by a nervous soldier, and before anyone knows what has happened, a giant mechanized being emerges from the sphere and incapacitates the assembled crowd with a sound wave. Just as the creature is about to take matters further he is called off by the wounded being.

The wounded being is taken to for medical care and the confounded scientists are amazed to find a human being underneath the organic suit that the being was wearing. The being grows very quickly and is soon a full grown adult.

Naturally these events are very concerning to the U.S. government and Defense Secretary Jackson (Kathy Bates). The Being identifies himself as Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), and asks to speak with the leaders of the world about a very important matter. Jackson is convinced that Klaatu is the first wave of an invasion and orders him to be interrogated in order to learn his true mission.

Klaatu is able to escape and soon finds himself on the run with Helen and in doing so, learns about humanity. As his mission is revealed, it soon becomes a race against time for Klaatu and Helen to save the world from the greatest threat it has ever known.

The setup to the new film was very good and I was fortunate enough to see the film at an Imax screen which really enhanced the visuals of the film. Sadly there was not enough action for it to hold my attention as the best visuals in the film were largely shown in the trailer.

Once the events of the plot were put into motion, I found them to be very underwhelming, and the message of the film was lost in a series of muddled dialogue and a script lacking any really tension or drama. Klaatu is supposed to be a fish out of water that learns through Helen and Jacob about the other side of humanity, the one that is not about war, death, and destruction. Yet, thanks to the lack of chemistry between Reeves and the always good Connelly the audience is left with little to root for.
When the action finally comes it is very brief and restrained and not nearly enough to save the film, which stumbles to a very awkward and predictable finale.

I had hoped that this new version would be able to up the action promised in the first film and greater delve into the origins of Klaatu as well as the message of change he brought to humanity. Instead the film loses its way and the message becomes an afterthought leaving the audience with very little.

2.5 stars out of 5