SILENT HILL: DOWNPOUR RELEASE DATE APPROACHES

Box Art for the upcoming game

Having lived under a rock for the better portion of two decades, I came into Silent Hill sometime just before the 2009 release of Shattered Memories. However, I remember the first time my friend dusted off his PS2 for another go and introduced me to James Sunderland and the small vacation town of Silent Hill. After that I was hooked; the games, Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack, the movie, and even a local abandoned building that my friends explored weekly because it reminded us of the infamous town, I enjoyed them all (well, not Origins and the 2006 movie was ... eh).

I certainly hope I am not the only one avidly awaiting the quickly approaching release of Silent Hill: Downpour (March 13, 2012), the much awaited (in my book) 8th installment to the vastly successful survival horror franchise, developed by Vatra Games, a little known Czech Rebublic game developer, under Konami. 

TGS trailer released for Silent Hill: Downpour featuring Korn's thematic song, simply entitled 'Silent Hill'.

The game is a return to 7th generation gaming, and looks polished, while keeping an aesthetically old feel to the movement and graphics, hearkening back to it's 2001 predecessor and hallmark game Silent Hill 2. which set the bar for survival horror as a genre and for psychological horror in general with its dark and twisted plot about the dark and twisted town.

Hallmark game Silent Hill 2's James Sunderland's first confrontation with his punisher, Pyramid Head.

An early deviation from the series in this new installment is the absence of long time Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, which was a blow to the heart, I'll tell you what. The soundtrack of the previous games was half the fun and atmosphere, and their replacement by 'nu metal' band Korn makes me reserved, to say the least. Were I not excited about everything else I've seen, I'd probably have lost hope. 

Iconic pieces 'Theme of Laura' and 'Promise' as written by series' original composer Akira Yamaoka.

Downpour has returned combat to the series, which was absent from the previous game, Shattered Memories, (a remake of the first game that was not a part of the main continuity of the series), although, hearkening back to Silent Hill 4: The Room, Downpour will feature weapon degradation, and the inability for protagonist Murphy Pendleton to carry more than a single melee weapon at one time. In any other game, this would be bad design; in Silent Hill, it's just part of the pants-shitting experience.

Speaking of Murphy, this time around, Silent Hill has decided to mind-fuck an escaped prisoner of unknown conviction (since this is Silent Hill, gonna go out on a limb and assume it's not tax fraud, yuk yuk). The psychologically driven monsters this time around have taken two notable forms for me are the Void and the Judge, the latter being a Pyramid Head (the iconic big bad of the series) like brute with a sledgehammer and the Void a darkened cloud from which Murphy can only flee. It's good to see symbolism dripping from the monsters in a style reminiscent to ye' ol' Silent Hill games.

Overlooking Silent Hill

Also, the town has gotten something of a makeover as well. The action has been moved to the southeastern region of Silent Hill, which has never been seen before, ad there will be a focus on the natural world as much as the industrialized hell which Silent Hill fans have grown to known and love over the years. This game, in addition to the staple fog world will feature a randomized weather system during with torrential downpour will summon more monsters for Murphy to face. I enjoy this deviation from the standard fog/ash/hell motif, if only for trying something new, and a well grounded theme built on water is always fun, seeing as it can be taken in so many possible directions.

Also, for any long time Silent Hill fans, a joke ending has been ensured by the developers, of what exactly, we have to wait for release date MARCH 13, 2012.

~ Godzello

POETS OF THE FALL RELEASE MUSIC VIDEO FOR SINGLE "CRADLED IN LOVE"

Artwork accompanying the single's initial release.

Surprise, surprise! Poets of the Fall just released the music video for their single, "Cradled in Love" from their new album, "Temple of Thought".

The video is relatively simplistic in comparison to previous music videos (Carnival of Rust & Diamond's For Tears spring to mind). It had a two person cast, being the singer Marko and a mysterious and beautiful woman. Marko's character is seemingly reminiscent of characters played in previous music videos as "Can You Hear Me" and, as previously mentioned "Carnival of Rust" lending it weight in the Poets mythology.

Throughout the video Marko seems to sing to the girl, who wanders, alone, through an abandoned and dilapidated house, finally coming to rest in a bed, before being startled by a noise, and finds a brilliant spring of water, and when the water stops, she walks away. All of this hints at a sensation of loss and anguish that I wasn't aware of when I listened to the song previously.

The video is hauntingly beautiful, as is the song itself, and only makes me more excited for the upcoming album release, Temple of Thought, out on March 21.

~ Godzello

ALAN WAKE'S NEW NIGHTMARE RELEASED AND POETS OF THE FALL'S NEW ALBUM ANNOUNCED

Riding the coattails off the last blog, I was reminded of Alan Wake, which leads to a two-pronged post. Firstly is the newly released Alan Wake's American Nightmare & Poets of the Fall's new album Temple of Thought.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare 

In 2010 Remedy Entertainment released the successful  Alan Wake, a psychological thriller action game. Now in 2012 they have released a downloadable follow-up, Alan Wake's American Nightmare. It is an interesting turn in gaming, for while a standalone game, it is not considered a sequel by the developers. I'm not exactly sure what the distinction is between a follow-up and a sequel, but I was impressed before. 

Since its release in mid-February, the game has received positive reviews, despite criticism from IGN for a "sub-par story, oddly written dialogue, and lack of suspense." For a story-driven action-horror video game who's titular protagonist is a Writer, those seem like fairly glaring deficiencies.

On the other hand, they brought back Poets of the Fall's soundtrack in two new songs, "Balance Slays the Demon" and "The Happy Song" as their pseudonym "The Old God's of Asgard". Adopting a more 80s metal vibe, I loved "Balance Slays the Demon," which lead me into learning about the upcoming Poets album ... 

Temple of Thought

The upcoming 5th studio album from Finnish Rock band Poets of the Fall is scheduled for release on March 21, 2012. Being a huge fan of the band's previous work for Remedy Entertainment, the singles "Late Goodbye" for Max Payne 2 and "War" for Alan Wake, I quickly fell in love with the band's entire discography.

The newly released single, "Cradled In Love" is undeniably peaceful and lovely, but still very much Poets, and sets the tone hinted at by the name of the album, which gives me high hopes for the direction the band is taking for this new musical endeavor.

It's nice to know that even in this day and age (being raised upon the Gods of Classic Rock) that quality musicians still exist and can compose the music that they release. It's a shame that they're not more widely popular considering the level of their talent.

~ Godzello

EXCITEMENT FOR BIOSHOCK INFINITE

I find myself hard pressed to call myself a gamer for two reasons; 1) modern consoles are bloody-well expensive and I'm too cheap to even bother owning a TV anymore, and 2) My introduction to video gaming was The Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and Fallout. Let me explain what this means, exactly. 

For years I fell out of gaming, unaware, and disinterested. Then Infamous found me, and I was quickly learned how much fun I was been missing. But, and this a huge BUT, a really damn bit BUTT, and I cannot lie (see what I did there?), my initial leap back into gaming, borrowing my best friend's PS3, growing roots into his couch (I can name several instances he'd come home from classes to find me already there, playing), showed me that I had two problems, a) I didn't have any motor control (7 years without touching a game-controller will do that to you), and b) the storytelling I had learned to expect from Fallout, BG2, and KotOR had spoiled me for life, and there was no going back.

So, being the kind of nerd I am, I keep my eyes out for modern games that might match, in my mind, ye games of ol'. So far ... few have. I reserve this list for Heavy Rain, Silent Hill 2, and Alan Wake, but each with a certain reluctance, some more than others and for different reasons between them all.

So it's interesting how damned excited I am for BioShock Infinite, the release date for which was just announced, a simultaneous release for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on October 16 in North America. Holy frakking shit. I've said before in regards to the Avengers (and other 2012 summer blockbusters) that you cannot judge a product based on the trailers, but Jesus. Maybe I'm just on the Ken Levine bandwagon--is there a Ken Levine bandwagon?--what does it say about me that I automatically assume that there is a Ken Levine bandwagon? For those uninitiated, Ken Levine is the lead designer for the game, and he is a "huge fucking nerd" and should have his own bandwagon.

Perhaps it is kinship, perhaps it is understanding, perhaps it is grokking, but that man speaks to me, with reports of game designers taking inspiration for the story and setting from historical pieces at the turn of the 19th century as well as redesigning the game to reflect the modern day "Occupy" protests, or Levine taking the "unorthodox approach" of allowing the lead voice actors for Booker and Elizabeth, Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper to develop script and details of the story alongside their voice work, allowing them to "help define the characters" and deliver "more convincing performances within the game", to the fact that the game is built on ideas of American Exceptionalism in the early 20th Century. 

I am not ashamed to admit that I had to look up what American Exceptionalism was exactly (basically its that idea that Americans are better than anyone else ... seems kind of obvious now that you mention it ....)

Promotional art for Irrational Games' BioShock Infinite.

This is what Ken Levine had to say, "If you think about the founding principles of the United States, if you think about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, what's interesting to me is how two different people can look at the same set of documents by a single group of writers and come away with entirely different opinions about what those writings mean-so different that they're willing to kill each other over them."

And this is a video game!?

In a day and age populated by Call of Duty: Battlefield (did I get that right? better yet, who the frak cares?) the simple fact that some games are turning towards more meaningful plots, drawing from history and current events to create a fanciful yet potentially deep, characterized, AND visually stunning game is cause for frakking celebration. 

That said, I'm going to go play Planescape Torment now, you damn wankers (that's the games industry I'm referring too and anyone responsible for the bloody first person shooter pandemic).

~ Godzello

ROWLING TO WRITE NEW NOVEL FOR ADULTS

J.K. Rowling to publish first novel for adults

It was recently announced that famed Harry Potter author was turning her literary sights on an older market with a new novel, this one geared toward adults, perhaps the readers of Harry Potter who were children upon the massively successful series' publication.

Initial details are scarce on the new book. It is known that J.K. has inked a deal with Little, Brown Book Group ... which I must admit I find an odd name for a publisher. 

J.K. said of the new book: 

"Although I've enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry's success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life."

I admit mild curiosity where this venture will take the famous author, but I wonder how she is going to tackle her first, 'novel for adults'. As talented as a writer as she is, her vivid imagination, and her solid storytelling, I was always left scratching my head when people reference her wondrous talent and the development as a series. 

I disagree. Her writing improved ... but I would be hard pressed to say that it developed. In the final installments of the series, the books took a turn for the darker, but the subject matter was handled in a haphazard and oddly childish manner. In my opinion, the characters suffered from developmental retardation. For example, Ron progressively became dumber and Hermione more nagging, and that is merely a superficial observation. 

Really, it boils down to a feeling that no matter how 'dark' the series became and how many characters she killed off, the Harry Potter books retained an undeniable childlike naivety in their dealings with adult themes. 

Personally, I felt that D.J. MacHale's Pendragon series was far superior in every regard. It's a shame that he didn't receive the same literary prestige bestowed upon Mrs. Rowling, and I wait with mild reservation to see if she can elevate her writing in this new endeavor.

~ Godzello

NEW 'AVENGERS' TRAILER RELEASED

May 4th cannot come fast enough.

Ah, and who would have guessed that a self proclaimed nerd, a geek, (some might even go so far as to call me a mimir) that I would also be a Whedonite? In other words, if you don’t like Boss Whedon, you still have time to back away slowly, mostly because I am nearsighted, and if you don’t get too close I won’t be able to track you for later and stash Firefly DVDs in your stockings at Christmas, ya filthy animal.

A party indeed, Mr. Stark

That said, within the last twenty four hours another trailer was released for the upcoming 2012 summer blockbuster release of the AVENGERS. This is a big deal for many reasons, the foremost is because if it’s done well, nerds will be jizzing in the pants globally come May 4th. If it’s not, then this may very well be traced by future historians to be the singular event which triggers an internet war between the most fanatical of Whedon and Marvel fans pointing fingers and flinging poo like the Left and Right at a congressional hearing. 

But looking at the trailer in the most objective way possible, I have to say that it looks gorram shiny to me. 

We get to see, as the press association puts it, "all the superheroes struggling to unite to save the world, amid a flurry of battles and explosions."

But that’s not all, and not by a long shot. We get to see the conflict between Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, presumably battling for dominance of the group. We get to see crowds of citizens kneeling in between shots of the film’s main antagonist, Thor’s little brother Loki. We hear Bruce Banner declare,  “We’re not a team, we’re a time bomb!” And amid this drama (Whedon at his best, perchance?), we get just enough action to have me salivating for more. 

And just look at that mother f***ing cast! 

Thus far the Avenger Trailers have resonated more with me than, say, the Dark Knight Rises, which shows bare skeletal snippets, enough to pique my interest, but mostly based upon remaining feelings of goodwill from Nolan’s previous two installments less than anything appearing in the trailer ... save the Bat-Wing. Now that looks badass.

Also worth noting in the newly released The Amazing Spider-Man trailer, which having re-watched Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man immediately after, looks like a hellovan improvement. 

Okay ... that's just cool.

Sadly, you cannot fully judge a film based on the trailer (although with some you wonder why not), but based on what I’ve seen, the Avengers promises to be a action packed, wittily written story of dysfunction and teamwork (with lots of explosions). Cheers.

~ Godzello

“I think they need a time out.” ~ Agent Coulson 

WELCOME TO BUZZ AT POP-CULTURE CORNER

Ah, the feeling of keystrokes, a certain vitality unlike any other ... the power of words. 

Here, already I have a conundrum. Where is the line drawn between writing and posting and blogging as I, and only I, see fit, and not alienating anyone who happens to cross paths with my little corner of the web by being unbelievably droll?

Well, I'm a firm believer in jumping out of the frying pan and hitting the fire running, so let's find out!

Also, to all my fellow Whovians, I blog now. Blogs are cool.

Allons-y!

~ Godzello