A new trailer from New Zealand

While I consciously do not follow the news from New Zealand, just to keep my future movie experience a surprise, a new "The Hobbit" trailer reached my ivory tower lately. Which I could not ignore due to obvious lack of willpower in this case.

What can I say? If you loved Jackson's LOTR, you'll probably adore this one for the very same reasons. If you hated it, there is still a good reason to drop your prejudices and enjoy a damn good movie. I do hope at least some of the childish spirit of the source would be preserved in the upcoming and overtly epic "The Hobbit" trilogy, otherwise looking forward to see if it manages to touch some strings of mine.

Dawnguard now available on PC

As stated on BethBlog, TES V: Skyrim first story-based DLC, Dawnguard, has been announced available on PC at QuakeCon 2012. I'm off to get it - let's see what it's got for me.

The saga of Biôrn

The Saga Of Biorn from The Animation Workshop on Vimeo.

Credits

A film by: Benjamin J. Kousholt, Daniel D. Christensen, Mads Lundgaard Christensen, Jesper A. Jensen, Jonas K. Doctor, Steffen Lyhne, Pernille Ørum-Nielsen, Frederik Bjerre-Poulsen, Jonas Georgakakis

"Signal to Noise" by Neil Gaiman, a review

Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“The world is always ending, for someone”, he says.

She is trying to quieten the baby, and does not hear him. I doubt that it would matter if she did.”

A tale of the last days of a movie director. Never boring, McKean's illustrations are great as always. And what it had to say - from signal to noise, it's always signal to noise.

The good thing about some of Gaiman's writings - like the beginning of American Gods and the human subplots in The Sandman series - is their realism. The ability to touch feelings not many put into fiction perhaps finding them too small or short-lived, lacking greatness. But that's what makes "Signal to Noise" personal and strong.

Might be a bit too specific for a typical comic book reader, but it really touched me.

View all my reviews

Dishonored: Daring Escapes, the good, the bad and the ugly

The newest gameplay trailer shows multiple strategies for the same part of the game.

The Good: First of all, it almost felt like an open-world experience. Sadly, it isn't. However, we see the freedom to choose your strategy I believe Harvey Smith has had a large role in (lead designer for Dishonored, known for titles like Deus Ex, which has a strategic system). Viktor Antonov, the guy who designer City 17 in Half Life 2, is doing a great job with Dishonored's Dunwall. The game is dynamical and the "chain possession" method looked like the one I'm going to use most simply because it was devious and awesome.

The Bad: The game graphics look outdated. The gameplay looks aged. Older gamers will most likely feel pleasant nostalgia, but Dishonored isn't likely to become as popular as Skyrim. And after what happened to Troika, the company of geniuses which made awesome games yet faced bankruptcy, I'm worried for Arkane too. And it still isn't an open-world game.

The Ugly: FOV manipulation was too dry at times, could hurt game dynamics. When falling into water, PC's weapons suddenly disappear, replaced by empty hands. Some holstering animation wouldn't hurt. And I would really appreciate better graphics.

The verdict is - I like what I see, but there's still much to improve. Let's see what comes out in the final product.

Update: Harvey and Raphael are answering questions on Reddit. Got questions - ask them. Here's the link.

Aaron Diaz explains: Why cleavage is bad for crimefighting

Aaron Diaz (DresdenCodak.com) made some comments on how certain revealing suits would affect the crime-fighting of certain female superheroes.

Throneopoly

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. Originally posted here.