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Friday
Oct012010

The Walking Dead Intro that AMC won't be able to match...

Is there any chance that the actual intro for The Walking Dead will be as cool as this one by animator Daniel Kanemoto?  I don't think so.  It uses actual drawings from the comic in a way that perfectly captures the tone of the series.  That, and it is simply beautiful.  Also, check out the creator's other work.  He is stupidly talented.  Great work, Mr. Kanemoto.

 

 

THE WALKING DEAD "Opening Titles" from Daniel Kanemoto on Vimeo.

 

Tuesday
Aug242010

Piranha 3D review on The Blackest Eyes

My review of Piranha 3D is up on The Blackest Eyes as a second opinion to Hallo's review.  All four of the main writers planned on doing a review of the film as an experiment, so there may be two more competing reviews to follow from Skot and Missy.  I really enjoyed the film, though I thought that some of the gratuitous nudity was over the top.  Click the quote below to go to the full review:

 

"The film removes the military angle and the local politics and basically avoids wasting screen time on anything that isn’t naked or being eaten. It’s a purity that I appreciate." 

Monday
Aug232010

Review Glory to Rome

Review

Glory to Rome

Cambridge Game Factory

Designed by Carl Chudyk

 

The Spin:  “The seriously strategic strategy card game”

The Story:  Players of Glory to Rome take on the roll of Patricians who are hoping to play a large role in the rebuilding of Rome after it has been burned down in the great fire of 64 A.D.  Through the course of the game, players recruit patrons, gather material, build infrastructure and increase their wealth and influence in order to come out on top. 

The Play:  The rules to Glory to Rome are not particularly complex.  There are a small number of options available each turn which are further limited by the cards the player has in hand.  Those cards, however, are complex in that each card can serve multiple functions according to what the player wants to do.  Assuming the player doesn’t simply pass in order to draw more cards, he or she can choose to play a card that represents one of the game’s six roles (patron, laborer, architect, craftsman, legionary, or merchant).  The other players, in turn, decide whether to follow the action (assuming they also have the matching role card) or pass and draw cards.  Then, starting with the lead player, each player takes the action associated with the role.  The starting player card is then passed to the left and the next round begins. 

My TakeGlory to Rome can be a hard game to wrap your mind around.  There are forty different buildings, many of which can interact in complex ways.  Once a player has a couple of buildings and a few clients in play, turns can be complex and confusing, especially for new players.  On top of the combinations, Glory to Rome features a number of different paths to victory.  It can be a lot to wrap your head around.  That said, the game is filled with interesting, meaningful choices.  Each game feels different.  In other games of this type, one broken (read: too powerful) card can ruin the game.  Glory to Rome has dozens of cards that can be broken when combined with another card.  Really, every card could likely be part of a three-card combo that would seem abusive.  Given this, the game isn’t for everyone.  For me, trying to find combos for the buildings is a blast.  I love winning by fielding some ridiculous combo, and, more importantly, I enjoy the game even when it is my opponent that puts the powerful combo into play.  If you like tactical games and don’t mind a bit of chaos, Glory to Rome is a must-own.  If, instead, you like your card games to be perfectly balanced, I’d play GtR before buying it.

Similar Games:  Glory to Rome will remind players of San Juan and Race for the Galaxy.  It has many more combinations that San Juan and is far more chaotic than Race.  Huge fans of either of those games should definitely check out Glory to Rome.

 

Score: 9/10

Nerdblogger Dan

Saturday
Jul032010

Ebert Backs Off a bit on the Video Games as art issue

Unlike other blogs, we didn't get all that upset at Roger Ebert and his "video games will never be considered art" post a while back.  Still, as we said at the time, history will likely prove Ebert wrong as it does nearly everyone who claims to have some sure vision of the future.  Because Ebert is a smart and thoughtful critic, he has published a bit of a mea culpa, basically saying that he doesn't know enough about the genre to be taking shots at it.  You can read the whole article here:

 

Ebert's Mea Culpa

Sunday
Jun202010

Loras Tyrell has been cast!!!

Continuing to hire British actors to feel most of their roles, HBO has announced Finn Jones as their choice to play the Knight of Flowers.  One of my favorite characters in the stories and one that is sure to play a major roll down the road, this casting is one that they might not even realize how important it is at this time.  He is regular on a British soap opera named HOLLYOAKS and certainly looks the part.  He is no Justin Beiber though.