Film Review - F For Fake

"Ladies and gentleman, by way of introduction, this is a film about trickery, fraud, about lies. Tell it by the fireside or in a marketplace or in a movie, almost any story is almost certainly some kind of lie. But not this time. This is a promise. For the next hour, everything you hear from us is really true and based on solid fact." -Orson Welles in F for Fake

Orson Welles's penultimate film, F for Fake, is all about fraud and those who specialize in it.

This "documentary" concerns Welles himself, famous art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, who in turn forged the autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles's use of interviews intercut with on-camera narration from the editing room is inspired and the glimpses of Welles the magician are truly charming. It's almost as if he's invited you over and decided to regale you with stories overheard at a dinner party.

An interesting mix of fact and fiction, the film moves at a brisk pace for the first hour or so, not so much telling a story, instead revealing the many facets of fakery in various forms. The last twenty minutes however seemed to drag on, due mostly to the presence of a staged confrontation between Welles and then partner Oja Kodar which sends an otherwise great film experiment completely off the rails. In fact, I'd go as far to say that this movie would've been much better without the inclusion of Ms. Kodar, as all of her scenes tend to be a chore to get through and stop an otherwise richly entertaining experience right in its tracks.

F for Fake is not a traditional documentary in any way and to be honest I found that to be refreshing. I really liked this movie and if it weren't for the detrimental scenes mentioned earlier, I believe I would have loved it.

7/10

Hotline Miami Release Date Revealed

Hotline Miami, the engrossing top-down experience from Dennation Games will finally be released on PS3 and PS Vita on June 25th.

Available for $9.99, this highly anticipated release will be a Cross-Buy title and feature a new mask as well as touch screen controls. 

So everyone get your masks and Letterman jackets and get smashing next Tuesday.

(Via Playstation Blog)

Making The Grade: E3 2013

Another E3 has come and gone and this year was certainly one of the most memorable in quite some time. We witnessed the reveal of two brand new consoles from Microsoft and Sony, respectively, as well as a bevy of new and intriguing games. With both Microsoft and Sony taking wildly diverging paths with their press conferences this E3 was truly one for the ages. Surprisingly though, Nintendo decided to not have a press conference at all this year. The Big N instead opted for one of their Nintendo Direct videos starring Satoru Iwata showing off all of their new games. So, let's see how they did, shall we?

Microsoft

Following their May reveal and a flurry of rumors about the Xbox One, Microsoft revealed a striking gameplan for their upcoming entertainment console. You've all seen the headlines about necessary internet connections and an always-on Kinect so I won't rehash those here but needless to say the reaction was decisive. Microsoft showed off quite a bunch of games but so few of them caught my eye and truly impressed me that I was actually getting more bored as their conference continued.

At first I was ecstatic that Killer Instinct was finally returning after an overlong hiatus that's lasted since the days of the Nintendo 64's Killer Instinct Gold, but as details have started to emerge I've lost almost all interest in what could have been a must-have game in my opinion. 

The fact that all except one of the characters are going to be DLC and that this once technical fighter has been reduced to mere button mashing is a major disappointment. Sure, the game looks fantastic in action but graphics aren't everything as has been proven with many fighters in recent years.

  

Respawn Entertainment's Xbox One exclusive Titanfall was the game to beat at Microsoft's conference. This multiplayer FPS seems like a total blast with both on foot and mech battles coming at 60fps. To tell the truth Titanfall is the only game for the Xbox One that really grabbed me, from the released footage this release looks like a total blast and I'll definitely try it when it is eventually released.

VERDICT

Overall this was, with the exception of a few good points, a downer of a conference from Microsoft. The anti-consumer angle they're going for truly rubs me the wrong way and the $499 pricetag isn't very enticing either. A D+ is all I can muster for Microsoft this year.

Sony

This year Sony really took the fight to Microsoft in almost every way possible. From a price point $100 cheaper than the Xbox One, digs at the used game "controversy", to a heavy showcase of indie developers, Sony didn't falter in their mission for the Playstation 4 to be the home for gamers in the coming generation. Along with the new console they also revealed a few games that were beyond intriguing.

The Order: 1886 from Ready At Dawn Studios and Sony Santa Monica looks to be a truly original beast. Ready At Dawn, known mostly for their PSP releases, seem ready to take the step into the home market with this alternate history take on Victorian London with a heavy technological vibe. 

Though no actual gameplay was shown, the in-engine trailer was gorgeous and gave a bunch of hints as to what to expect when this game finally releases. In The Order the Industrial Revolution was basically enacted in order to better fight the monsters that plague the human race, using a bunch of neo-futuristic weapons and impressive facial hair. This is definitely one of my most anticipated PS4 releases.

Though not a PS4 exclusive, Bungie's ambitious new game Destiny seems like it will turn a lot of heads once released. Billed as a "shared world" shooter by the developer, Destiny will be an ongoing multiplayer battle for the liberation of the planet with MMO elements and on-the-fly matchmaking. 

From the looks of it, this seems like a more serious take on Borderlands with just as much, if not more customization involved. The Public Event that was showcased encompassed a few separate platoons trying to take down a gigantic walking tank. Bungie's design seems better than ever and I couldn't be more excited to play this the day it comes out.

VERDICT

This was a particularly strong showing from Sony this year, righting many of the wrongs from 2012's conference. Though they didn't really show off many games for the Vita, in fact they only showed a few logos, the Vita's second screen capabilities for the PS4 seem like a great fit for the struggling handheld. The Playstation 4 looks to be a fantastic console with some great potential, this Winter should be a very interesting time. I'd have to give Sony a solid B+ this year.

Nintendo

Nintendo, for intents and purposes, made the smart choice this year by not having a flashy press conference like Sony and Microsoft. They chose what was basically a video press release and I'd say it suited them just fine. Nintendo was able to be quick and to the point and show off some pretty cool looking games that they have in the pipeline. 

One of Nintendo's big hitters and a potential system seller for the Wii U, Super Smash Bros. was the game everyone was looking forward to. A high-def sequel to one of the company's biggest and most popular franchises, this entry looks to be bigger than ever and was the one game that everyone has been talking about. 

Though they've only announced three new characters so far, I'm sure that many more will be announced over the next year leading up to the release. Mega Man, the Animal Crossing Villager and the Wii Fit Trainer have all been announced so far and their move set seems pretty intriguing to say the least. Mega Man's ability to steal his bosses weapons looks to be his main draw in what I can only imagine to be a very difficult character to master come next year.

While everyone else was clamoring over Super Smash Bros. and Super Mario 3D World, the Nintendo game that got me more excited than anything else would have to be Monolith Soft's upcoming open world RPG, codenamed X. The highly anticipated follow up to the fantastic Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii, this game seems to be an experience huge in scope and ambition.

 Planned to have a large scale open-world with near seamless exploration, this game will probably push the boundaries of what the Wii U can do from a technical standpoint. Featuring giant transforming Mechs called DOLLS and battles taking place on land, in the air and at sea, X looks to be a crazy good time and is currently my most anticipated Wii U release.

VERDICT

Nintendo did their best this year to drum up excitement for the struggling Wii U and although they certainly didn't hit it out of the park, Iwata and Co. showed off some truly impressive games. As always with them though, third-party support was lacking, but that's par for the course for Nintendo at this stage in the game. So for their exclusives alone I'd have to grade them a decent B-.

So between the two heavy hitters at this years E3 we had two companies with vastly different ideologies that went after different kinds of gamers. We also had Nintendo stop by and say hello with a few great exclusives to show off. Who will win the Next-Generation of the "console war?" Who knows? At least it will be an interesting ride come November.

Sorry About That!

Many many apologies for my absence as of late, sometimes life just gets in the way.

Expect a lot more articles here in the very near future as I'm attempting to get back on track. Some awesome From The Vault reviews are coming your way as well as reviews of recent releases! 

Who knows? Perhaps you'll even see reviews of the random comic book or movie I love. 

See you soon, y'all.

Playstation 4 Revealed

At a press conference in New York Wednesday evening, Sony officially announced their next-generation console, Playstation 4. Though the console itself wasn't shown, everything from a Holiday 2013 launch window to technical specs to upcoming games were, and all in all it was an impressive display for the company. Sony knows that they have a lot of ground to cover if they want to compete against Microsoft's upcoming Xbox, and it seems to me that they're already on the right track. 

According to PS4's system architect Mark Cerny, development of the new console started as early as five years ago, a mere two years after the PS3's troubled launch. Gone will be the days of the developer maligned Cell Processor, which is to be replaced by a new x86 CPU made by AMD. The new CPU is apparently a lot easier to program for and should allow for more parity with various ports from other consoles. Perhaps for once a game's Playstation counterpart won't be the technically inferior version on the market as we've seen time and time again with various releases (I'm looking at you Skyrim and Dishonored).

Sony's new controller, named, not surprisingly DualShock 4 features a touchpad similar to the PSVITA's rear touchpad, a redesigned D-Pad, form fitting triggers and concave Xbox 360-esque analog sticks. The new Share button was prominently featured at the conference as well, it allows "instant" uploading of gameplay footage to the internet. Finally killed a ridiculously difficult dragon in Dark Souls II? Upload the fight in order to share your strategy and help others achieve the same. The Playstation 4 looks to be social media intensified in almost every way, with a Playstation App on the way for use in matchmaking and game purchasing via your iPhone or Droid. These seem like really cool features for the Next-Gen and something that I'm personally looking forward to exploring come launch. 

One sadly unsurprising fact of the Playstation 4 is that it won't be backwards compatible in the traditional sense. Your PS3 Blu-Ray games as well as any game you've previously downloaded from the PSN will not be playable on the PS4 due to the new hardware found inside the console itself. This won't be a problem for someone like me who has 6 systems hooked up at once, but for the average consumer this might prove to be a huge stumbling block for Sony come release. However, Sony plans to at least somewhat solve this problem thanks to their recent purchase of Gaikai, a company known for developing cloud gaming services for various platforms. You should be able to stream any Playstation game, past or present, at the touch of a button, which is a pretty nifty approach in my opinion.

So sure, they didn't reveal what the actual console looks like or how much it will cost, but overall I'd say that Wednesday's conference was a success. It's smart that they didn't show everything yesterday, since I'm sure they'll want to release new information throughout the entire year leading up to the Holiday launch. 

This weekend I'll be posting some looks at the various games that were shown off, but in the meantime what did you think of Sony's big reveal? Excited? Scared? Angry? All three? Let me know in the comments here, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Hotline Miami inbound for PS3/Vita

The popular "top-down, SNES-style brutality simulator" Hotline Miami is finally coming to home consoles according to publisher Devolver and developer Deannaton.

Available this spring for the Playstation 3 & PSVITA as a Cross-Buy title, this should ensure that even more gamers can revel in the strangeness of this truly unique release. Cross-Buy is great for this type of game, since you'll be able to get both versions for the price of one.

Hotline Miami was one of my favorite games of 2012, and it should be fun to have some mayhem at home and on the go.

The Last Of Us Delayed

       The Last Of Us, the Spring 2013 release from Sony's first-party game studio Naughty Dog, has officially been delayed. Originally scheduled for a May 7th release, the title has been pushed back about a month to a Friday, June 14th release.

This might not seem like such a big deal to the average person, but to anyone who follows the industry, it might come as a bit of a shock. Naughty Dog have never delayed a game before, they've always had "set-in-stone" release dates that were met. This time however ND decided that in order to deliver everything they have in mind for The Last Of Us, this extra time is needed.

The developer had this to say via Playstation Blog:

As a team we pride ourselves on setting a very high quality bar for every aspect of our games – gameplay, story, art, design, technology and more. We want to make sure The Last of Us raises that bar even further – for ourselves, and most importantly, our fans.

As we entered the final phase of development for The Last of Us, we came to realize just how massive Joel and Ellie’s journey is. But instead of cutting corners or compromising our vision, we came to the tough decision that the game deserved a few extra weeks to ensure every detail of The Last of Us was up to Naughty Dog’s internal high standards.

It's sort of a bummer that I'll have to wait an extra month to play my most anticipated release of 2013, then again ND has a fantastic track record with their games. If this extra time allows them to release a game on a whole new level than what we normally get from them, I say hell yes, take your time and I'll happily wait until June 14th.

Are you upset that The Last Of Us has been delayed? What's your most anticipated release of 2013? Let me know in the comments below or contact me on Twitter @TheRealMattC.