Ben X

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Posts posted by Ben X

  4. Posted

    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!

  5. Posted

    Oh yeah, I saw the first actual episode of Being Human. Poor. The actors had great chemistry in the pilot, but none at all in this one (because two were replaced).

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

  7. Posted

    Hahahah oh dear. It's like Alan Moore's worst nightmare come to life, and far too believable. Very clever in the nods to the relationships and personalities in the book (Rorschach: I'm wacky!).

    I hope nothing resembling this comes out of the movie. I'm optimistic about the movie itself, but the first executive to say the words "action figures" must be shot as an example.

    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.

  8. Posted

    JamesM said:

    I'm casting no accusations here, but what lead you to discover this?

    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.

  13. Posted

    So, SyntheticGerbil is a fan of Evan Dorkin, as am I. Anyone else? He's worked on ace shows like Space Ghost and Yo Gabba Gabba, and does many ace comics such as Milk And Cheese, Hectic Planet and Dork.

    I wish this guy got more work/could fix his physical/psychological obstacles that stop him from getting more done!

    http://evandorkin.livejournal.com/

  15. Posted

    Speaking as an occasional wannabe screenwriter myself, there's a lot to be said for concision. "Kill your darlings" is the phrase a lot of writers use: If it doesn't advance the plot, illustrate character, or establish tone, then it's gotta go, it doesn't matter how much you love it.

    I mean, what would be the point of including every line of dialogue? You have the game there if you want that experience. The purpose of the video is to boil the game down to its essence, and it does that very effectively in my opinion.

    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!

  16. Posted

    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!

  19. Posted

    Wow. This is mighty impressive. It's Half Life in the HL2 engine, isn't it? Will Valve pick this up and publish it?

    Rose: We really haven't had too much interaction with VALVe in terms of what they like and dislike. They have indicated they would like to see one of our builds at some point, although we're not quite at the stage to show them anything! We're really waiting for their opinions and thoughts come release date.

    Montero: Valve has always held firm that they knew someone was going to do what we are doing. Their overall reaction just seems to be to sit back, and see what we do with the project

    .

    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.

  21. Posted · Edited by bbX1138

    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!

  22. Posted

    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? :erm::crazy:

  24. Posted

    This is so fucking sad. I used to love adventure games, and I've played all the Sierra and Lucasarts games, etc. to death. Is there a secret ingredient they stopped making in the 90s, or have I just become jaded, surly and tired of having fun? I still love playing Fate of Atlantis, and I think it's genuinely fun, but is that just nostalgia? All the newer adventure games, like the tons of European ones that have appeared the last five-ten years have been absolute rubbish.

    OR HAVE I BECOME RUBBISH?

    You'll be glad to know, toblix, that there's at least one company making excellent adventures. And I hear their upcoming adventure sequel will have a few homages to FoA...

  25. Posted

    Ah, thanks Erkki. I managed to solve it by randomly using items on other items, which I hate resorting to.

    In retrospect, I should have realised what the goal was, but the demo doesn't bother making the game dynamics clear at all.

    Rubbish rubbish rubbish.