Ben X

No Screenwipe, but yeah the spin-off Newswipe has just started. You can see the first ep on BBC iplayer, it's really good (although he repeats a fair bit of material from his Guardian column, as usual).

Thanks for the bump and the attention, guys! Glad you enjoyed it, noyb. Check out the zombie-cow site for updates on the sequel... I'm writing dialogue for it right now. Here's what I just wrote for 'talk to pile of straw': Not sure if the gag comes across... gdc, a feature or review would be ace! Let me know if you need anything, and enjoy the game! You might spot Tremors and Shaun Of The Dead references, a Day Of The Dead reference, but no The Terminal or Dawn Of The Dead references....

To be fair, Shetty was pretty graceful about that whole thing at the time. Besides, what's she going to say when the press aske her about Jade's cancer? 'Good, she was involved in some ambiguously racist conversations about me, I'm glad the bitch is dying'?

Time to dust this off, then: fPgV6-gnQaE

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=24393 I think this deserves a reviewing of Ron's hilarious turn in Heat Vision And Jack. But can anyone find a better streaming copy than this? - http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/entertainment/watch/v332217tCth2FrY

You did what?!

Yeah, there were some nice sets there (little video about it here: http://io9.com/376622/building-the-watchmen-sets-before-your-eyes). I think it was more the cinematography/post-production that made everything feel shiny and clean...

I'm going to chip in on the Watchmen debate while it's still going: I really disliked it. It's one of those films, like The Dark Knight, where there's so much stuff going on, all slickly presented, that I come out of thinking to myself that I probably did like it, until I start remembering all the bad stuff about it that adds up to make it actually not that good a film at all. [FULL OF SPOILERS:] As mentioned already, they're too afraid to cut things out, and so it's this very dense piece with no structure to hold onto. The comic manages the mix of flashbacks and present events perfectly, but the film isn't able to replicate it. The central whodunnit mystery gets lost, as does the Comedian/Laurie revelation; a lot of stuff could have been cut, eg Rorshach's origin, Nite Owl I. Also, it's full of those little inexplicable changes that suggest the director/screenwriter doesn't actually understand why certain setpieces are cool - young Rorshach eating the teen's face rather than stubbing the cigarette in his eye, pointlessly putting in the newsvendor and black kid for the nuclear explosion rather than the two cops whom we've actually seen before, Rorshach defeating the second Big Figure thug by smashing his head into the toilet with the electrocution merely an afterthought - that cropped up in Sin City too. Nixon's face is awful, Leonard Cohen over the sex scene makes it super-camp and unfortunately sounds like Rorschach was singing the vocals, the midnight clock metaphor is turned into a bad cardboard prop, there's no sense of nuclear terror, several beats are missed in the Dan/Laurie relationship, Dr Manhattan's schlong is like a third leg. Veidt was miscast and misinterpreted - he felt like a criminal mastermind from the get-go, rather than a cheesy, publicity hungry, savvy sell-out superhero. Also, the film doesn't feel grimy enough - everything outside has a CG sheen, and everything inside feels like a studio set. It's almost the same aesthetic as Mystery Men. Phew!

Apparently it got much better in the second half of the series, but I can't bring myself to catch up on iplayer.

Nice review of it here too: http://www.xnplay.co.uk/2008/12/24/carneyvale-showtime/

They seem to have realised that Watchmen isn't that kind of movie, thankfully. The cartoon is especially ace is you imagine it to be produced by Veidt to go with his toyline.

I was googling all of the chav actresses because I thought the brunette who pops up dancing a little later on was quite hot and wanted to see if she'd been in anything else or was just a production runner they dressed up. I've almost finished watching the first season of Damages - all quite slick and enjoyable, but a bit repetitive. I don't know if I'll bother watching the second season. The Friday 13th reboot is dreadful and boring. A shame, as I enjoyed the writers' previous efforts on Freddy Vs Jason and thought they might show similar imagination on this one. No such luck.

I don't think I'll bother with Hide And Seek, but I should be around for pub drinks if they get organised...

That was great! The chavs hammed it up a bit though. And the blonde one credited herself as 'lead chav' on her online resume, the cheeky cow.

Can you link to any specific videos? My eyes start bleeding when I look at his user page.

I also enjoyed The Wrestler, and Really enjoyed Frost/Nixon too. It never gave in to A Few Good Men levels of melodrama, and paid an equal amount of attention to the two lead characters, as well as having plenty of rounded supporting characters.

Have you read 1984? It explores that theory to terrifying effect.

I didn't say he should include every line of dialogue, that would be ridiculous. But I think that by missing out or fudging some of the coolest moments and lines, while pointlessly including or recontextualising other less essential ones, he misses the essence of the game and the experience of playing it. Oh, and as a screenwriter and adventure game designer in my spare time, the phrase 'kill your darlings' is one that haunts me regularly!

ScummVM is really easy to use these days, too. That Full Throttle movie is dreadful. It cuts out loads of cool stuff for no reason, but keeps in bits and pieces of dialogue that don't sound half as cool out of context. He even cuts out the 'You know what might look better on your face?' line! Unbelievable!

Was I the only one who hated Stardust? I thought it was puerile, obvious, disjointed and faintly homophobic. Outnumbered, on the other hand, is brilliant.

Mm, no.

.Valve also asked them to drop 'Source' from the title of the mod to differentiate it from official Valve product, but that's it, so they seem to be supportive but hands-off.

FAO ysbreker: do not read ArtoftheTitleSequence... http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/08/15/lord-of-war-2005/

Aw, I was hoping you'd come up with a brillo idea. Hmmm, maybe the player would have to attach a smooth piece of wood (after giving it to the sandpaper guy) to the running guy, which the ants would chase because...um... ah, I got nothin'. The three guys were actually a cameo by The Triforce which, I'll admit, did get a little self-indulgent. A remnant from before we realised how many people would end up playing! Still, better to have too much dialogue and detail than too little, I always think. At the very least, it adds some red herrings! EDIT: I went through a similar thing with Governor Phatt in Monkey Island 2, actually - I tried every item three times each on those damn food pipes!

Glad you got round to it Toblix! You'll be glad to know that the sequel, 'Time Gentlemen Please' will definitely have some kind of exciting, epic final puzzle. Ben There Dan That has had over 15 000 downloads, not including magazine coverdiscs, and shitty download sites like Gamershell stealing it without permission, so after that success we're really trying to make the sequel more polished and tightly constructed... PS - What puzzle would you have designed that involved the superpowers of all the superheroes?