The Weekly Release (11/21 - 11/28)

[bapenguin]

It's not just another week, the XBox 360 is finally upon us. Will it be all it's hyped up to be? Will you have to sell a kidney to get one on EBay?

Other than the 360 we have BF2: Special Forces hitting store shelves. It seems a little soon for an expansion pack for Battlefield 2. Peter Jackson's King Kong hits just about every platform and looks to be a pretty solid title with great cinematic feel. Not much on DVD, though the original King Kong looks mighty tempting.

The theater lineup for Thanksgiving is just pitiful, and the movie industry wonders why ticket sales are so bad this year.

Monday
American Chopper: Full Throttle (PS2 (http://www.gametab.com/ps2/american.chopper.full.throttle/4916/))
Battlefield 2: Special Forces (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/battlefield.2.special.forces/4649/))
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2 (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/cabelas.dangerous.hunts.2/4901/))
College Hoops 2K6 (XBOX (http://www.gametab.com/xbox/college.hoops.2k6/4847/))
Combat Elite: WWII Paratroopers (XBOX (http://www.gametab.com/xbox/combat.elite.wwii.paratroopers/3195/), PS2 (http://www.gametab.com/ps2/combat.elite.wwii.paratroopers/3196/))
Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2 (DS (http://www.gametab.com/ds/dragon.ball.z.supersonic.warriors.2/4540/))
Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World (GBA (http://www.gametab.com/gba/kong.the.8th.wonder.of.the.world/4232/))
Peter Jackson's King Kong (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/peter.jacksons.king.kong/4228/), 360 (http://www.gametab.com/xbox360/peter.jacksons.king.kong/4235/), XBOX (http://www.gametab.com/xbox/peter.jacksons.king.kong/4229/), GCN (http://www.gametab.com/gcn/peter.jacksons.king.kong/4230/), PS2 (http://www.gametab.com/ps2/peter.jacksons.king.kong/4231/), DS (http://www.gametab.com/ds/peter.jacksons.king.kong/4233/))
Real Time Conflict: Shogun Empires (DS (http://www.gametab.com/ds/real.time.conflict.shogun.empires/3950/))
Wild Life! (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/wild.life!/4930/))
Zatch Bell! Electric Arena (GBA (http://www.gametab.com/gba/zatch.bell!.electric.arena/4931/))

Tuesday
American Chopper: Full Throttle (GCN (http://www.gametab.com/gcn/american.chopper.full.throttle/4915/))
Ancient SuDoKu (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/ancient.sudoku/4936/))
Chrome SpecForce (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/chrome.specforce/4937/))
Crime Life: Gang Wars (XBOX (http://www.gametab.com/xbox/crime.life.gang.wars/4277/))
Elf Bowling 1 & 2 (GBA (http://www.gametab.com/gba/elf.bowling.1.&.2/4932/))
EyeToy: Kinetic (PS2 (http://www.gametab.com/ps2/eyetoy.kinetic/4271/))
Gothic II Gold (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/gothic.ii.gold/4822/))
Guild Wars: Special Edition (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/guild.wars.special.edition/4938/))
Guild: Gold Edition, The (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/guild.gold.edition.the/4935/))
SBK: Snowboard Kids (DS (http://www.gametab.com/ds/sbk.snowboard.kids/3185/))
Silent Storm: Gold Edition (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/silent.storm.gold.edition/4933/))
SpellForce: Platinum Edition (PC (http://www.gametab.com/pc/spellforce.platinum.edition/4934/))

DVD
War of the Worlds (2005) (http://www.imdb.com/rg/WOTWW_REC//title/tt0407304)
King Kong (1933) (http://www.imdb.com/rg/KK2DSE_REC//title/tt0024216)
Aeon Flux: The Complete Animated Series (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111873/)
The Polar Express (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338348)

Theater
Pride and Prejudice (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414387/)
Rent (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294870/)
The Ice Harvest (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400525/)

[fitbabits]

Only 13 hours and 50 minutes to go...

I will be picking up War of the Worlds on DVD. I really enjoyed it in the theater and I find it amuzing that Dakota Fanning out-acted the Cruiser in every scene they were both in.

Oh, Pride and Prejudice in the theater - a good week!!

[divinechaos]

Real Time: Shogun Empires, has anyone seen/hear anything new about this game? Its been awhile since any major websites say anything about it. What about Snowboard Kids?

http://ds.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3144606 .Isnt Burnout suposed to be coming out today also?

[TrackZero]

Only 13 hours and 50 minutes to go...

I will be picking up War of the Worlds on DVD. I really enjoyed it in the theater and I find it amuzing that Dakota Fanning out-acted the Cruiser in every scene they were both in.

Oh, Pride and Prejudice in the theater - a good week!!

Yeah, War of the Worlds really only worked for me on the special effects side. Cruise was off and I don't like Dakota Fanning.

***SPOLIER***

And the son coming back in the last scene, so horrible. Would have been far more impactful had he just died. Really the whole movie comes full circle and not much was gained/lost.

[Taco]

War of the Worlds was pretty crappy I thought. The very beginning until the first appearance of the aliens was decent. The rest was horribly paced and cheesy.

The people I went to see it with thought it was great though.

[Nite_Moogle]

BF2: Special Forces hitting store shelves. It seems a little soon for an expansion pack for Battlefield 2.
No way - it's been a good .. um.. five months... yeah ok they're milking the franchise.

[NoName]

Has anyone heard much about the PS2 eyetoy accessory, I see it has a new game out. Is it any fun?

[fitbabits]

Has anyone heard much about the PS2 eyetoy accessory, I see it has a new game out. Is it any fun?
'My wife' loves it! :)

[agentgray]

Me, Myself, and Ours or whatever it is? Wife wants to see that. (The original with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball is not that bad...man, Fonda rocked. He should have made more movies.)

This is a chick flick Thanksgiving

[Roc Ingersol]

At least Cruise was acting against type. If he was in his regular Tom Cruise Mode, it'd have been insufferable. And seriously, all Dakota did was scream and cry.

Some of it was alright. Some of it annoyed the piss out of me.

[Borys]

BF2: SF is a friggin rip-off. Patch the goddamn game first EA.

[fitbabits]

BF2: SF is a friggin rip-off. Patch the goddamn game first EA.
Ah, but that would involve spending money, not making money!

[anakin876]

Just Friends The new Ryan Reynolds movie, comes out on Wednesday.

[The_Darr]

i cant fucking wait for Aeon Flux full collection--been waiting for that one for years.

[Spigot]

I'd much rather have the original 1950's version of War of the Worlds. Thankfully I have both on my christmas list :)

I loved The Polar Express last year when I saw it, what, 3 times in theatres? Don't ask me why. I just did.

As for the games, well, Gothic 2 and Silent Storm would be great additions to my collection, but I'll wait until after Christmas and see what EB gift cards arrive in my stocking. Between WoW, The Movies and DQ8, I barely have time to play anything else.

[crazyfrazee]

I'll be seeing Rent, but I don't expect much agreement around here. Representing the musical-theatre gamers right here!

[fitbabits]

I'll be seeing Rent, but I don't expect much agreement around here. Representing the musical-theatre gamers right here!
I'll probably go see Rent when it hits the 'dollar' theaters.

[Kagger]

My parents are going Christmas shopping tomorrow, they get an early start. Do I want a 360 for Christmas? No. But, I told them if they see one buy it and we can sell it on ebay (I'd start the price at price we bought it at the store, and let it go from there. I wouldn't be evil and set a reserve at 1000). Then...it's new computer time.

[Everlost_MI]

Anyone else interested in the new John Cusack movie, Ice Harvest? I am going to try and catch it this weekend.

[fitbabits]

Anyone else interested in the new John Cusack movie, Ice Harvest? I am going to try and catch it this weekend.
I really can't stand Billy Bob Thornton, so I will likely give it a swerve.

[automaton]

War of the Worlds is science fiction at its worst. Sure the effects are really good but you have to expect that these days. Alien invasion is so overdone and that deus ex machina ending is just fucking crap. Plus, only Spielberg could make that movie and get a PG-13 rating. You see like 20 on-screen deaths. Any other director and it would have been an R.

[Spigot]

I'll be seeing Rent, but I don't expect much agreement around here. Representing the musical-theatre gamers right here!

I never saw the musical of RENT and it just doesn't do anything for me... I do have tickets to the Lord Of The Rings musical though. Woo! First balcony, second row, centre. And they were free (hooray for door prizes!).

[Spigot]

War of the Worlds is science fiction at its worst. Sure the effects are really good but you have to expect that these days. Alien invasion is so overdone and that [i}deus ex machina[/i] ending is just fucking crap. Plus, only Spielberg could make that movie and get a PG-13 rating. You see like 20 on-screen deaths. Any other director and it would have been an R.

But they were bloodless deaths, so I guess that makes them ok...

As for the ending, I don't understand why everyone is so upset with it. Has nobody seen the original movie or read the original story? Granted, it would have been better if they had gone with the bacteria storyline from H.G. Well's version, but I guess it's just that nobody explains what exactly kills them in the remake that pisses people off...

I'm more annoyed with the son having survived. That's just pure cheese.

[goc_sin]

Gothic II gold should keep me busy while I wait for Oblivion.

[bean19]

I'm hoping "Rent" is as good as the broadway production. If you sometimes like musicals (Chicago, Moulin Rouge) then this should interest you.

Other than that, sort of a slow weak.

[51|RandoM]

They're patching existing bf2 at the same time, so stop whining for a patch.

you'd think you guys didn't want expansion packs ever. This isn't like the death of a spouse where you have to wait a certain amount of time before you should be consider courting again.

In the long run, if you don't want/like new content in bf2, then don't buy the expansion pack. Seems simple to me, but then again, maybe you just feel like moaning about something this morning.

[51|RandoM]

War of the Worlds is science fiction at its worst. Sure the effects are really good but you have to expect that these days. Alien invasion is so overdone and that [i}deus ex machina[/i] ending is just fucking crap. Plus, only Spielberg could make that movie and get a PG-13 rating. You see like 20 on-screen deaths. Any other director and it would have been an R.

Try reading the book, you might gain insight into why the movie is as you described.

Then again, maybe I'm giving you too much credit. :confused:

[Mason]

The problem isn't the downfall of the aliens in WotW, because if they changed that it would diverge too much from the original. The problem is that you have a half-hour of building up the aliens into this devastating force...and then a half-hour of them steadily becoming stupider, weaker, and easier to trick. The hide and seek part, for example. The aliens have slaughtered untold millions, why not just blow up each of the remaining houses and move on?

The movie would've been good if the bacteria had felled the aliens at the height of their power, but it didn't do that. It made them terrible and unbeatable, then it made them idiots with various easily-exploited weaknesses, then it made them die on their own. That really lessened the impact of the victorious ending. And to top it off, you have the protagonist's family surviving unscratched (when pretty much every other group of extras got slaughtered), and in a completely untouched part of town. Total crap.

The ending wasn't the problem, the problem was that everything that occurred in the second part betrayed the hopeless situation that was built up so well in the first part.

[Imelman]

Ah, but that would involve spending money, not making money!

I'll bet if they could get away with charging money for patches to games they would. In fact EA might start selling games that they know don't work and then two months later coming out with an expansion that contains the patch to make the original game work and is also the only way of obtaining the patch. That way they make twice as much money.

Or is that what they are already doing...

[fitbabits]

I'll bet if they could get away with charging money for patches to games they would. In fact EA might start selling games that they know don't work and then two months later coming out with an expansion that contains the patch to make the original game work and is also the only way of obtaining the patch. That way they make twice as much money.

Or is that what they are already doing...
I'll let you be the judge of that lest I get myself accused of anything else. :eek:

[Rirath]

War of the Worlds is a travesty... a complete mockery of the book. Everything that made the story cool and engrossing was replaced with lame family values and vague storylines. Then there were the plotholes large enough to drive a truck through. And while I generally tend to dislike Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning's whining, selfish, screaming fits just made the movie absolutely unbearable. I was glad when it ended, even if the special effects looked like Half Life 2 x 10.

And while the ending may share the same general concept, it messes it up royally like every other bit of the story.

[dr_wily]

I'll be seeing Rent, but I don't expect much agreement around here. Representing the musical-theatre gamers right here!

ive gota rent fanatic for a friend who saw a screener and absolutely loved it. So at least the fans shouldn't be dissapointed.

I saw in NYC last year, got the cheap 20$ front row tix.. it was great, if you can get past the late 80's/early 90's cheese rock on occasion.

[Imelman]

Aren't they using the original cast of the play for the movie or something like that?