Première vidéo de gameplay pour LocoCycle

Lors du dernier E3 relativement pauvre en annonces, Microsoft avait tout de même dévoilé trois nouvelles licences. Assez discrètes derrière leurs petits teasers, on retrouvait parmi ces jeux, un certain LocoCycle. Dans une ambiance rappelant celle des films Tron, on pouvait découvrir un prototype de moto futuriste.

Aujourd'hui un trailer plus explicite est enfin dévoilé, et on peut clairement dire que l'ambiance change radicalement. A mi-chemin entre un Transformers et Torque, on peut y voir une moto futuriste foncer à toute l'allure dans la circulation, tout en détruisant quelques véhicules au passage. Mais on vous laisse le soin de découvrir cela par vous même.



Le titre a donc l'air totalement barré, avec une moto-robot et un mec qui lui reste attachée en permanence. Mais "loco" voulant dire "fou" en espagnol, et Twisted Pixel Games (Splosion Man) étant responsable du développement, on aurait du se douter de la tournure des événements. Ceci dit, LocoCycle est une exclusivité Xbox Live Arcade et devrait sortir l'année prochaine.

· Télécharger le trailer
· Forum LocoCycle

Pokemon version Noire 2 et Blanche 2 annoncées

GameFreak vient d'annoncer que les deux prochains jeux Pokemon seraient des suites aux dernières versions en date, Noire et Blanche. Baptisés sobrement Version Blanche 2 et Version Noire 2, elle sortiront sur DS et non sur 3DS,comme on pouvait s'y attendre. Les deux jeux devraient toutefois profiter de certaines fonctions liés à la 3DS. Aucune autre information n'a pour le moment filtrée sur le contenu du jeu. Cependant, la seule image proposée nous permet de voir deux nouvelles versions des pokemon légendaires des opus précédents. Une nouvelle génération de pokemon est à prévoir ou seulement une refonte de l'ancienne?

Dans tous les cas Version Noire 2 et Version Blanche 2 sont attendus en Juin prochain au Japon et pour l'Automne chez nous . Un site teaser vient également de voir le jour.

Crysis 3 dates et vidéo

Crytek et Electronic Arts ont enfin décidé de nous livrer en pâture les dates de sortie de Crysis 3.

Le FPS futuriste des Allemands nous emmène une fois de plus dans un New York envahi par des hordes d'aliens belliqueux. La nanosuit et ses pouvoirs rendant le héros surhumain ne seront pas de trop pour venir à bout de cette menace extraterrestre en pleine crise de destruction massive. On apprend également que les entités précitées ont signé un accord avec le réalisateur Albert Hughes (à qui l'on doit From Hell par exemple) pour la production de plusieurs trailers baptisés Les 7 Merveilles de Crysis 3. Un premier teaser concernant cette série de vidéos est situé juste en dessous de cette news.

Crysis 3 sortira le 19 février 2013 aux Etats-Unis et deux jours plus tard en Europe, soit le 21 février, sur PC, PS3 et Xbox 360.



· Forum Crysis 3

FS12 - FIFA Street a une date

Cette année 2012 s'annonce riche en sport, sur les terrains et en dehors. Pour Electronic Arts, ce sera surtout l'occasion de sortir trois nouveaux jeux de football. Le sempiternel Fifa en octobre, mais aussi certainement un épisode spécial Euro en mai. Cette année est aussi l'occasion de voir ressortir du tiroir la franchise Fifa Street, qui, comme à son habitude mettra en avant le foot de rue. Dribbles, humiliation et passes à dix seront au rendez-vous pour un épisode qui, on l'espère, relèvera le niveau après un catastrophique Fifa Street 3.

Mais jusque là, il faut avouer que le jeu est resté timide. Peu de vidéos, quelques images, et les occasions de mettre ses mains sur la manette sont rares. Heureusement, EA vient d'officialiser la sortie du titre au 15 mars prochain sur Playstation 3 et Xbox 360. Deux mois, c'est le temps qu'il reste à l'éditeur pour nous faire découvrir plus en profondeur ce Fifa Street.

· Forum FIFA Street 2012

2012-12-21-459

ADATA launches a brand new lineup of SSDs

Adata Technology announced today the launch of a brand new lineup of expanded capacity solid state drives. The new SSD range includes the XPG SX900, the Premier Pro SP900, and the Premier SP800, all of which use new optimized firmware to utilize greater storage capacity of the NAND Flash components. All of the drives being launched use NAND Flash for improved stability and performance. The 3 new series are the XPG(Xtreme Performance Gear), thePremier Pro SP900 and thePremier SP800.

The XPG (Xtreme Performance Gear) SSDs are designed to satisfy hardcore, speed crazed enthusiasts. Its maximum sequential read and write speeds are 550/530 MB per second, with maximum random 4k write speeds as high as 85,000 IOPS. With capacities of 64, 128, 256, and 512GB, the SX900 is poised to take its place as a market and performance leader.

The Premier Pro SP900 also boasts impressive performance numbers, but also offers a competitive price advantage to those looking to upgrade. Maximum sequential read and write speeds are 550/ 520 MB per second, with maximum random 4k write speeds of 85,000 IOPS. Capacities of 64, 128 and 256 GB make the SP900 an outstanding option for upgrading notebooks that are compatible with the SATA 6Gb per second specification.

Finally, the Premier SP800 is a SATA II SSD that also makes efficient use of the Flash storage capacity, allowing for capacities of 32 and 64GB. Max sequential read and write speeds are 280/260MB per second, and max random 4k write speeds are up to 44,000 IOPS. It enters the market as a high value entry-level solid state drive for those who are just now making the transition from mechanical drives.

Source : Adata Press Release

tfg does the summer blockbusters “captain america the first avenger”

I have to say, critically-speaking at least, this has been quite the summer for Marvel, hasn’t it? Granted, none of their 2011 summer releases has enjoyed the kind of spectacular box-office success that flicks in the Spider-Man and Iron Man series have, and even X-Men : First Class has underperformed a bit compared to previous incarnations/installments in that franchise’s run, but between that, Thor, and the subject of our review today, veteran Hollywood blockbuster director Joe Johnston’s Captain America : The First Avenger, it’s fair to say that properties from the so-called “House of Ideas” have become absolute critics’ darlings.

And hell, why not? The fact is that as far as mass-marketed mega-budget studio marketing tools go, these films have all been pretty damn good. Sure, they’re still more about selling toys and hyping the next big thing to come from Stan Lee’s commercial empire (in this case, as with Thor, the object that pre-publicity-hype being 2012′s forthcoming The Avengers)? than they are about the actual movies themselves per se, but damn if they haven’t all featured a lot better characterization, acting, plotting, and what have you than most massively-ballyhooed, massively-distributed, massively-seen, and massively-budgeted Hollywood fare.

Okay, fair enough, in this case more than most the film is almost pure set-up for the sequel-and-spin-off machine, and from start to finish the whole thing feels more like a prequel for an actual movie that hasn’t happened yet than a self-contained story designed to stand or fall on its own merits, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t do just that anyway. The giveaway comes in right at the start when the remains of Cap’s doomed flight are found in the Antarctic in the present day, but once we shift back in time to World War II and get into the story proper, it’s eminently gripping and satisfying from start to finish even if you never do quite escape the feeling that it’s two hours of pure backstory.

The strongest element has to be the superb performance of Chris Evans in the title role — with an honorable mention going to the CGI effects team. For the first third or so of the film, as we meet Steve Rogers in his early incarnation of heart-of-gold super-wimp, Evans’ typical-Hollywood steroid-enhanced-looking-frame is digitally manipulated to appear thin and lanky, and while the effect is impressive enough in and of itself, it’s Evans’ performance that really sells it, and when he gets injected with Tony Stark’s dad’s super-goo to become the Nazi menace’s worst living nightmare, the subtle changes Evans uses to convey the fact that he’s still the same good-natured kid, albeit one now almost trapped in a body he doesn’t fully comprehend, are astounding. It’s easily the best acting job ever turned in by a leading man in a superhero flick.

Beyond that, everyone else is solid, too. As Cap’s arch-nemesis The Red Skull, Hugo Weaving is coolly menacing when he needs to be, outright unhinged when it’s called for, and a righteously callous bastard throughout.? Tommy Lee Jones is right at home in a military-hard-ass role he was born to play, and he seems to be soaking up most of the acting accolades from the media for his turn here. What the hell, it’s been a long career and he’s earned it. And Hayley Atwell, besides being drop-dead gorgeous, is convincingly endearing as our guy Steve’s love interest, Peggy Carter. You really believe she’d take a shine to this guy even if he’d stayed a a scrawny wuss forever.

Johnston keeps the film moving at a pace that heightens one’s interest throughout without resorting to being a breakneck thriller, and there’s certainly no harm in that — more Hollywood directors could take a cue from this and learn that there’s much to be gained from keeping a person in their seat at all times rather than on the edge of it? from the word go. The pacing here is pretty much pitch-perfect and the screenplay from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is so exceptionally loyal in tone, if not exactly in content (although it’s plenty close there for a modern audience), to the Joe Simon-Jack Kirby comics of the 1940s that it’s sure to please even the most die-hard “Golden Age” purist.

And I think that’s the secret to Captain America : The First Avenger‘s success more than anything else, truth be told. As was the case with Thor, the folks behind the camera have finally figured out that while Stan Lee gave us the hype and the melodrama, it’s Jack Kirby’s vision and boundless creativity that was actually the heart and soul of these marvel characters in their earliest, and best, incarnations. It took Hollywood a long time, but they’ve finally figured out who the real genius at Marvel was, and by faithfully translating “The Kings”‘s vision to the silver screen, Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston have delivered a couple of the best superhero movies ever made.

I realize this review is pretty late in coming and that most folks who have any interest in this flick have probably already seen it, but on the off chance that you’re one of the few who’s intrigued by this and hasn’t made it out to the theater yet, do yourself a favor and check it out while you still can. You’ll be mightily impressed at best, pleasantly surprised at worst.

2012-12-21-189

100 Best Global Brands

Business week has released their 9th annual list of the “100 Best Global Brands”.Not surprised to see technology juggernauts IBM, Microsoft, Nokia,Google and Intel taking up more than half the slots in the top 10list…again.

“The recession has presented marketing executives around the world withthe toughest test of their careers. Some brands have prospered amid thehard times—or at least held their own. Others have slipped a surprisingnumber of places on our ninth annual ranking, compiled by consultancyInterbrand. But for seven brands, impressive performances saw them raceup the charts to take their place on this year's list. Here are thenumbers behind the rankings.”

News via [Businessweek]

“the rite” is alright

Okay, I admit it — I’m a sucker for exorcism flicks. Always have been, always will be. Ever since William Friedkin’s original The Exorcist burned itself indelibly into my memory as a kid, I’ve never missed a movie about some hapless schmuck in a robe trying to drive demons out of people.

And there sure have been a lot to choose from lately, haven’t there? Midway through the decade just passed it looked like this once-sort-of-mighty horror subgenre had finally run out of gas after the two different versions of The Exorcist prequel bombed at the box office, but now it’s? come roaring back with films like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, last year’s indie-horror mini-sensation The Last Exorcism, and now this latest Anthony Hopkins starring vehicle, The Rite.

Of course, you don’t go into a movie like this expecting anything new per se (or at least you shouldn’t), the only question is whether they’ll serve up a familiar dish well. I’m pleased to report that for the most part, director Mikael Hafstrom and co. get the recipe right. And eating seconds (or thirds, or fourths, or fifths, as the case may be) isn’t the end of the world if the dish itself still tastes pretty good.

I haven’t eaten yet today. Can you tell? And I probably should, but before I do let me just say a few brief words about The Rite because an in-depth cinematic analysis really isn’t all that necessary here, just a glossing-over the relevant points so you can decide whether or not this is worth a handful of your hard-earned dollars a couple hours of your life.

First off, Hopkins is solid. As Welsh exorcist (can’t be too many of those around)Father Lucas Trevant he’s pretty much mailing it in for the first two-thirds or so of the film, but once he gets demon-possessed in the final act (whoops, gave something away there) he really pulls out all the stops and delivers one of his signature blood-curdling performances. Fun stuff all around.

The other nominal lead, young (and dubious, and reluctant — of course) exorcist-in-training Michael Kovak, is handled by an actor I’m unfamiliar with named Colin O’Donoghue. He’s got all the charisma of three-day-old pizza and if you give a flying fuck about him you’re engaging in a serious bit of charity, because there’s just nothing notable about his performance whatsoever, but you’re not going to this to see him (if you’re sane) so I guess in the grand scheme of things his painful lack of acting ability hardly matters all that much.

Hafstrom, who seems to have a pretty solid visual eye as a director and keeps things stylishly bleak and mysterious without venturing too heavily into music-video territory? or anything like that, has assembled a respectable little supporting cast that includes the always-awesome Toby Jones as the headmaster (or dean, or Father Superior, or whatever they’re called) of the seminary Kovak is nominally still attending (he’s trying to quit), Ciaran Hinds (last seen around these parts in Todd Solondz’ Life During Wartime) as a second-tier Vatican priest/functionary, the rather fetching Alica Braga as Kovak’s European fellow student-exorcist (evidently the Vatican is willing to go co-ed in this field — who knew?)/sort-of love interest, and Rutger Hauer, who it’s just plain always great to see in anything,? as Kovak’s mortician father.

The plot, such as it is , concerns our intrepid young not-really-sure-he-wants-to-be-a-priest going to Rome to learn the ins and outs of exorcisms in a last-ditch attempt to, frankly, have some faith scared back into him since his meter’s running pretty low in that regard, and along the way he teams up with Father Lucas and learns that all this demonic possession shit is for real and a nasty demon entity migrates its way from a young girl into Lucas himself (I gave that away already, so no need to shout at me twice or anything). Basic stuff, supposedly “inspired by true events,” since the old standard disclaimer of “based on a true story” is probably a bit too much of a reach in this case.

Have you seen it all before? Of course. Have you seen it done better? No doubt.

And frankly, in recent years, you’ve seen it done a lot worse, too. The Rite isn’t out to shatter your view of reality or leave you with indelible nightmare images of a world you’d rather not face or anything of the sort. At least I hope that wasn’t the film’s? intention, because it sure falls well short of the mark as far as that goes. It seems more likely to me that it’s just out to do a solid, competent job of telling a story we’ve seen dozens of times over and are sure to see dozens of times again. It succeeds well enough in that regard, and since that’s the absolute most I was hoping for anyway, I’m prepared to give it my — uhhmmmm — blessing.

isle of the damned the low-budget horror spoof done right

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not at all a fan of Troma-style “instant cult classics,” if you will, and prefer films that actually earn their “cult” status without the aid of a fully-laid-out blueprint, but I must admit that “Isle Of The Damned” the second feature from director Mark Colgrove and Dire Wit Films, is a refeshingly bizarre serving of intentional cinematic sewage that spoofs the excesses of the Italian cannibal film subgenre while not losing completely the sense of genuine unease that the best of these flicks, like Deodato’s “Cannibal Holocaust,” instill in their viewers. In other words, “Isle Of The Damned” does make you laugh and also makes you feel ashamed for doing so.

This is thanks in large part to a truly disturbing subplot involving Billy, the young teenage ward (played by a guy in his late 20s/early 30s, naturally) of lead character “Jack Steele” about which the less I reveal the better— suffice it to say that Billy’s travails are the source of much uneasy laughter during the course of the film, and while the typical cheesiness of fake moustaches, overtly lousy dubbing, over-the-top cheap gore effects and the like are easy enough to crack fun at without feeling guilty, laughing at the struggles of “poor little Billy” will give you the same feeling as watching the animal slaughter in “Cannibal Holocaust”—you don’t really want to see it, but you can’t turn away. In that sense, then, “Isle Of The Damned” succeeds because it not only mocks but also captures the spirit of the Italian cannibal subgenre, since it’s just as cringeworthy, albeit in a completely different way.

Sure, much of the humor is overly obvious (the supposed “director” of this “lost classic” is “Antonello Giallo,” for instance, and the film’s promo poster blares that it was “Banned In 492 Countries,”) but there is plenty of unexpected and more ambiguous ” humor” peppered throughout in addition to blatant absurdities like a “jungle locations” that look like upstate New York or southern rural? New Jersey and a huge mansion located on a primitive, “uncivilized” island.

Does the entire film still have the overall subtlelty of a hammer blow to the skull? Of course, but that’s part of its—and I use this term loosely—charm. I certainly wouldn’t recommend this film to everyone, but if you think that the “instant cult classic” genre has nothing to offer, I’d humbly suggest that you give “Isle Of The Damned,” warts and all, a chance. Shot for something like $20,000, this film delivers the warped and twisted goods and leaves you feeling guilty for having so much fun. Who can ask for more than that?

don dohler mini round-up “the alien factor”

In terms of the Dohler-verse, this is where it all began — 1978′s classic (for some)The Alien Factor, the story of a doomed spacecraft containing specimens bound for an intergalactic zoo that crash-lands in the suburban Baltimore woods, thus freeing three creatures of varying degrees of evil savagery, all out to kill as many local rednecks as they can before either getting killed themselves by the enraged and frightened townsfolk or else somehow escaping and either surviving on this unfamiliar new planet or, somehow, making it back to their home in the stars. Basically the baseline Don Dohler plot is Frankenstein minus the mad creator, and he would only tinker at the margins with the basic formula laid down here in all of his subsequent backyard epics.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, because warts and all — and yes, the warts here are plentiful — The Alien Factor is, as the kids once said, more fun than a barrel o’ monkeys.? Sure, it’s hokey beyond belief, but you’ve got to put conventional definitions of “good” and “bad” filmmaking aside when you’re considering a Don Dohler production. For instance, the average low-budget (or no-budget, as is probably the more apt description here) moviemaker, when realizing that his “alien” costumes and effects look like shit, is going to do all he or she can to minimize their on-screen appearance and obfuscate them with shadows, tricky camera angles and the like so as not to embarrass him or herself. But that’s not Dohler thinking — our guy Don shows you his first savage beastie attacking a couple parked in lover’s lane (or on lover’s hill, or in lover’s field, or whatever) in full, clear, broad daylight right off the bat. That’s because displaying his garage-made makeup and costumes and effects was the whole point of these films. Dohler himself admitted quite publicly on numerous occasions that he didn’t give much of a fuck about directing actors, staging effective-looking shots, writing believable dialogue, etc. — he just wanted to show off his effects work and prove to the readers of his small-circulation (but, as it would turn out, highly influential, given that kids-at-the-time like J.J. Abrams were reading it) Cinemagic DIY-special-effects magazine that, hey, you really can do all this shit at home with duct tape and bailing wire.

Seminal Dohler regulars like George Stover and Don Leifert make their first appearances here, and standard plot devices like the scientist-from-out-of-town-whose-goofy-theories-just-might-explain-everything (reminiscent of the setup in Ed Wood’s Bride Of The Monster, amongst others) pop up for the first time in a Dohler feature as well, and basically the whole film feels on first viewing like the laying down of a template which can be followed time and time again even though there’s no way ol’ Don could have known that at the time he was making the film, since he often said that he figured his career as a filmmaker would strictly be a one-and-done proposition.

While that, thankfully (by our standards here at TFG, at any rate) didn’t turn out to be the case, it is interesting to watch The Alien Factor with a keen eye for the elements used that Dohler would not go back to — like the stop-motion-animation monster “battle” at the end? (let’s just say Harryhausen it ain’t). So Don didn’t go back to the well for every single element of every one of his films after this, despite overwhelming appearances to the contrary. If something didn’t work, he was the first to realize it and wasn’t afraid to scrap the less-than-successful stuff he tried and move on. Practicality trumps inspiration every time, my friends.

Beyond that there’s really nothing of specific import worth pointing out when it comes to this film — it’s a solid Dohler effort (and the one I probably should have reviewed first, but I’m writing about these in the order they’ve made it into the DVD player lately rather than in the order they were made) that is of special interest to his small-but-loyal legion of fans simply for the fact that it came first and pretty much set the blueprint for all that was to follow, minus a small handful of tricks that he decided not to try again. It’s 80-or-so entertaining minutes of homemade- monster-movie nonsense, and around these parts that is hardly a derogatory description.

The Alien Factor is available on DVD from RetroMedia as part of its Alien Fiend Dohler double-feature release (the other flick included being, of course, Fiend)? — the 16mm print is presented full-frame, and while it’s been remastered it still has its glitchy moments (plenty of them, truth be told), the sound is remastered mono, and there are no real extras to speak of apart from a George Stover interview that makes for some fun watching. If you’re on the Don Dohler wavelength, it’s an essential purchase, but if you’re a more casual fan of low-grade cinematic trash (and this flick has, incidentally, received the “riff” treatment from Joel Hodgson and the Cinematic Titanic crew), you can get by with adding it to your Netflix queue, kicking back, enjoying the ride as a one-off, and forever wondering what all the fuss is about amongst the rest of us.