Tag Archives: Review

Dunwich Horror Show (circa 1970)

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Until the end of April, Netflix will offer subscribers an opportunity to instantly download and watch the 1970 film version of the Dunwich Horror. It’s goofy, and mildly amusing in a campy seventies way, but it has little to do with the original story from which it derives its name. I find that to be unfortunate.

H.P. Lovecraft is a uniquely American author, with a flair for horrifying imaginative fiction. His portrayal of early New England society excited my interest as a kid growing up in Rhode Island. The imaginative power of his cosmology excites my interest and admiration as a grown-up type writer.

You wouldn’t guess from his legacy, but in his lifetime Lovecraft was not a great commercial success.

Revision Histories

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The Nova/National Geographic documentary ‘Great Incan Rebellion’ challenges the old story of ‘Spanish Conquistadors arrive in New World and use superior technology to crush primitive native peoples.’ Forensic pathologists collaborate with archaeologists and historians to uncover a much more plausible narrative, in which the discontents and ambitions of the native tribes of the Andes feature prominently.

I don’t doubt for a second that steel, gunpowder and horses gave the Conquistadors a significant advantage. But advanced technology alone is no guarantee of success, no matter what the myth makers may want us to believe.

A Game Without a Story…

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Kotaku.com tries to figure out what happened with the poorly-reviewed video game first-person shooter that is Aliens: Colonial Marines.

The first major problem was the game’s story: even four years after Colonial Marines was announced, nobody had locked down a final script. Narrative designers at both Gearbox and TimeGate were writing and rewriting constantly, and TimeGate had to discard entire scenes and levels because of story changes during development, according to three sources.

“For a couple months, we were just kind of guessing,” said one of those sources. “It’s really weird to work on a game when you don’t have a basic idea of how things will work.”

(Also? I had no idea there were such things as ‘narrative designers.’ Neat!)

What Comes to the Four (the PS4)

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We’ll probably pick up a Playstation 4. We delayed for a couple years on the PS3, until the price had dropped. I am not excited by what I’ve heard from Sony so far. I hope I’m proven wrong, but the addition of a ‘share’ button suggests creative lethargy. As a gamer, I don’t much care about another button. I want my gaming experience improved. Help me fool all five senses. (Yes, including smell.) Innovate with controls but never forget the technology is only as good as its ability to create engaging experiences that (to borrow from Sid Meier) offer players a series of interesting choices.