Movie Review: Bullet to the Head is unironic action, done well

If early 2013 was some kind of competition, then it's Stallone - 1, Schwarzenegger - 0. Bullet to the Head isn't extraordinary by any measure, but its penchant for brutish vigilantism is a lot more entertaining than The Last Stand's dull showdown. Stallone once again proves he is best when he plays a big oaf.

Bullet to the Head, based on the graphic novel Du plomb dans la tête, almost plays out like an Expendables sidequest. The Expendables' Barney and this film's James Bonomo (Sylvester Stallone) share similar blood, if not the same powerful mustache. Bonomo is a hitman with the tiniest bit of a heart. He's a ruthless killer, but he might just spare you if you look really, really innocent.

Bullet to the Head's plot doesn't throw too many innocent people his way, though, and his cut-to-the-chase attitude keeps things moving along. When Bonomo's partner is killed, an out-of-town detective, Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang), arrives to solve the case. The impossible duo end up working together to get answers, though I don't know if it truly qualifies as "working together."

Set in New Orleans, the film is thick with the style of the town. It doesn't always work, as the groovy soundtrack can be a bit overbearing, but it lends some color to what would otherwise be a monochromatic film. Juxtaposing the erratically-edited brawls and shootouts with parades, live bands, and masquerades saves Bullet to the Head from being too generic.

The buddy cop/hitman angle works for the most part, but I could have done without the constant jokes about reading tea leaves and fortune cookies. This isn't Rush Hour, but the one way in which Stallone really shows his age is by coming off as a bit backwards. When a guy with Sly's notoriety steps up, it can be hard to separate the character from the star.

What he lacks in open-mindedness he more than makes up for with his trigger finger. The theme isn't the typical "vigilante justice works" so much as "sometimes a bullet to the head moves the plot along." It seems that whenever there's a danger of the story getting too complicated, someone with a gun simplifies it. I can get behind that.

Bullet to the Head isn't the same kind of so-dumb-it's-smart filmmaking Stallone nailed when he revived Rocky and Rambo. There's no ironic wit or heartfelt messages here. If anything, it could have been a little less dumb. The Hollywood action film toolkit is used too liberally to deliver terrible one-liners and unnecessary callbacks.

While Schwarzenegger seems to be taking the road towards self-deprecation, Stallone isn't ready to call it quits. Bullet to the Head may dip slightly into the navel-gazing, old-man-action-star bit, but Stallone still has it. It isn't perfect, but this film shows that you can still do old school action movies without a pile of irony and still be entertaining.

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Time Surfer creator announces new action game called Duet

by Joe Jasko, Gamezebo, Posted Oct 7th 2013 3:45PM

From Kumobius, creator of the fantastic Time Surfer and Bean's Quest, comes a mesmerizing new action game called Duet. Described as a "hex-like" game of sorts that achieves an elegant presentation through a sleek minimalist design, Duet tasks players with maneuvering two different colored orbs through an increasingly difficult maze of falling objects. The orbs are linked together in a small circular orbit, and players simply have to rotate the chain to the left or the right in order to dodge the blocky and rectangular obstacles that get in their way.

Primarily a game about reflexes, and how fast you can get yours to react, just from watching the debut gameplay trailer of Duet in action, I can already tell that this one is going to join the ranks of games like Super Hexagon in providing an insanely challenging and "twitchy" experience: and I, for one, am totally all for that. With over 50 edge-of-your-seat stages, an endless Survival mode that you can use to brag to your friends, and a mystifying narrative that slowly begins to unfold, Duet is already shaping up to be a deep and engrossing mobile experience that is surely not to be missed.

But the coolest thing we've seen about the game so far is that every time you make a mistake in Duet, the orbs will splatter red and blue paint on the pristine white obstacles: to serve as a constant reminder of where you went wrong. Duet is currently expected to launch on iOS devices sometime in Q4 2013.

Tags: BeansQuest, duet, Duets, FlashGames, gamezebo, ipad, ipad game, ipad game cheats, ipad game reviews, ipad game trailers, ipad games, iphone, new release, new releases, time surfer

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Rovio's Mighty Eagle shows off Angry Birds Space in action [Video]

by Joe Osborne, Posted Mar 15th 2012 6:00PM

If Rovio's collaborations with NASA, MTV, The Daily and Samsung didn't spell it out, Angry Birds Space is the Finnish game maker's biggest game launch ever. And company CMO (or Mighty Eagle) Peter Vesterbacka wants to make that fact crystal clear. The Rovio executive gave TechCrunch a live demo of the game in action, and revealed a few more factoids about its massive product launch.

First and foremost, Rovio doesn't even see this as a game launch--the company sees Angry Birds Space almost as an entertainment brand in an of itself. And the developer looks to demonstrate that with separate animation projects, the legion of toys and even Angry Birds Space band-aids--all of which will be available at Walmart. (Seriously.) Check out the video below to get even more hyped up for the game's launch in exactly one week.

On a scale of one to 11, how excited are you for Angry Birds Space? Do you see Angry Birds creating the type of lasting momentum that say, Mickey Mouse did? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Tags: angry birds space, angry birds space android, angry birds space demo, angry birds space ipad, angry birds space iphone, angry birds space mac, angry birds space pc, angry birds space teaser, angry birds space video, mobile gaming, mobile social games, rovio

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Ex-MetroGames staffers seek legal action against Coco Girl maker

Hey man, that's the kind of stuff that happens when you allegedly deny employees a month's pay. That's what ex-employees of MetroGames told Gamasutra of their ongoing fight with the Argentina-based creator of hits like Coco Girl. Last month, it was reported that the company essentially pressured many of its staffers into quitting so that it wouldn't have to offer severance packages.

Now, the former staff members are planning legal action against the company to begin next month, demanding that MetroGames pay them for December's work and--for those who were ultimately laid off--severance compensation. "Until this day, we haven't received our salary corresponding to the month of December, our bonuses and our compensation for sudden layoff," the ex-staffers said in a statement provided to Gamasutra. "The stipulated date for them to pay this sum is long overdue, but we have to wait until February to begin legal action against MetroGames, because of the judicial recess that takes place in January here in Argentina. Many of the former MetroGames' employees have been left in a dire situation: without money, job and in debt."

According to Gamasutra, the former staff members accused MetroGames co-owners Julian Lisenberg and Damian Harburguer of "shady maneuvers" during the course of the layoffs in December. The former staffers also told Gamasutra that MetroGames management is keeping a small staff on board to keep games like Coco Girl afloat amidst serious financial problems.

All of this is a shock, frankly, considering Coco Girl alone welcomes 3 million monthly players and 500,000 daily players on Facebook, according to AppData. We've contacted MetroGames for comment and will update this story if necessary.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Are you a fan of MetroGame's games, like Coco Girl? Why do you think MetroGames would be experiencing such financial trouble if its flagship game is doing so well? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Puzzle Adventures from Ravensburger Wants its Piece of the Facebook Puzzle Game Action

German board game maker Ravensburger has just released its second Facebook title, Puzzle Adventures. The game combines conventional jigsaw puzzle concepts with power-ups and timed challenges for determining high scores.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Puzzle Adventures currently has 60 monthly active users and 30 daily active users.

Puzzle Adventures sees players solving a series of progressively more difficult jigsaw puzzles, while competing against their friends to score as many points as possible on each. The act of placing puzzle pieces is adapted for a click-and-drag interface, with additional clicks used to rotate puzzle pieces. Scoring is based on how quickly players can complete a given puzzle and can be increased by successively combining individual pieces to create point combos before a timer bar runs out. The puzzles themselves are comprised of actual photos and increase in complexity as players move from one themed world, such as an island setting, to the next.

A number of power-ups are available, with players having the option to assign and use up to five per puzzle. These include items that automatically rotate all of the pieces so that they’re right-side-up; one that displays an outline of the pieces in the finished puzzle on the screen; another that joins together random pieces for the player at the outset; as well as those that extend the timer, freeze it, and so on. In order to aid players in solving the puzzles, the game displays an image of the finished result in the bottom corner of the play field at all times.

Each time the player wishes to attempt a puzzle, one heart is removed from their stockpile. When all of the hearts are exhausted, players must wait for at least one to refill in order to play again (each requires around 10 minutes to be restored) or purchase refills. These are sold at the rate of one heart for five coins. Coins are also used to purchase power-ups before attempting a puzzle. Players receive coins based on their performance, as well as experience points that count towards players leveling up. Leveling up provides players with coins, heart refills, and keys. Keys are required to unlock some puzzles and can be purchased with coins.

Players can add their friends in Puzzle Adventures in order to compared high scores. The game also supports posting announcements regarding players setting new high scores, leveling up, and so on to their Facebook Walls and those of their friends.

Puzzle Adventures is monetized via the purchase of additional coins, used to but keys, power-ups, and additional hearts, using Facebook Credits.

You can follow Puzzle Adventures’ progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

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Sequoia-Backed Taykey Mines Trends in Real-Time to Power Cost Per Action Ad Targeting

Cost-per-action social media and search advertising service Taykey has just closed a $9 million second round of funding led by Sequoia Capital.

The company tracks social media mention and search trends in real-time to take advantage of urgent advertising opportunities and interest-based targeting parameters to power Facebook, Twitter, and search campaigns. Here’s a closer look at what it provides to advertisers on and off Facebook.

Let’s take a look at an example of an advertising campaign powered by Taykey. A singing contest television show such as X-Factor could hire Taykey for a month-long campaign on what amounts to cost per Facebook Like model, where the client pays a price per Like and sets a goal of the total Likes they want. Taykey would then monitor social networks, news, blogs, and searches for trends in the behavior and interests of the show’s target age and location demographic. It could determine what other TV shows or musical artists the audience Likes, and then run a series Facebook ad campaigns for the X-Factor Page targeted at people with those Likes.

Taykey co-founder and CEO Amit Avner tells us that “if X-Factor judge Paula Abdul falls off the stage, we’ll know in five seconds and go buy ‘Paula Abdul’ Google search keyword ads” to preempt the oncoming rush of searches for that keyword. Taykey might also purchase Twitter trending topics, or ads on Bing, Myspace, Digg in an effort to drive its own cost per Facebook fan as low as possible to make the maximum margin on the deal with X-Factor. Otherwise, X-Factor might just target 18-35 year old women, whereas Taykey would target those with interests related to the show, such as those who Like competing show American Idol.

Taykey says its patent-pending algorithm mines data from across the web, deduces keywords and sentiment, and maps the data to demographic and psychographic profiles. It then specifically targets those with the right profile, relieving brands from having to constantly discover new targets. Without using cookies or tracking of individuals, it shifts spend from one trend to the next attain the optimal CPA.

Avner explains to us that brands advertising on Facebook often target an age, gender, and location demographic that is too wide and unfocused, leading to lower conversion and rapid burnout. Taykey pinpoints the interests of these audiences to run a series of campaigns that keep conversion rates higher over time than more general campaigns. For instance, instead of targeting 18-24 year old males in New York City that Like ‘hip hop’, Taykey would determine specific artists such as “Jay-Z”, or television shows such as ’106th & Park’ to target the fans of.

The 19-employee Tel Aviv-based company was founded by three former members of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s intelligence arm, and has now secured a total of $12 million in funding. Several Fortune 100 companies have already run campaigns targeted by Taykey’s algorithm, including Pepsi, for which it attained 46,000 Likes in two days at half the projected spend.

It will use use the new round of funding, joined by Softbank Capital and Crescent Point, to hire engineers in Tel Aviv, Israel and to build out a New York sales office.

The “Related Adverts” real-time advertising system Facebook is testing that displays ads related to the content of a user’s most recent status update or wall post could be very useful to Taykey’s business. “We’d love to get in on it as soon as possible” says Avner of the beta product that doesn’t allow advertisers to choose if or which traditional interest-targeted Facebook ads are displayed in real-time.

As more brands realize the concrete value of Facebook fans, CPA ad services such as Taykey will become crucial to attaining large volumes of fans at the lowest possible price. While more well established Ads API tools and services will likely continue to manage much of the Facebook spend of the world’s biggest brands, real-time focused advertising services can complement a marketing mix by exploiting fleeting low-cost pockets of conversions.

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Birth of the action card mechanism

When I first started messing with the action cards, I was thinking of having cards that would feature numbers (ranging from 0-9) – bit similar as in Battlestar Galactica. I kept working on how to make sure challenges are dealt fast (to reduce playing time) I came up with the concept of “failure – success – minor failure – minor success”. These cards would determine the success or failure on encounter.

I then got rid of one card, ending with just 3 different:

In my playtesting, I first had players to hold 5 cards per player, and encounters were handled the following way:

Draw 2 cards Show encounter Each player now places 0-5 action cards (facedown) to a result pile 2 random action cards are added from the deck to the result pile. After each player has placed cards, shuffle the result pile and show one card: that determines success or failure.

This lead to the fact that there was no point ever using failure or problems cards, since you could use only success cards and then wait for more success cards to come.

It hit to me that by changing this mechanism, there would be more interesting decision to be made. I changed the system so that each player gains 6 cards, and must use exactly 2 per turn.

This way, 1st encounter can be somewhat easy (since you have 6 cards to choose from), second encounter bit more difficult (now you have only 4 cards to choose) and 3rd one nastiest – since you must use the 2 cards that remained in your hands.

But now you could see what the encounter has to offer, and then plan your move: will you use your success cards right away to gain resources, or perhaps use failure cards instead since the failing condition on current card isn’t that bad?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 4th, 2011 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Game Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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Toy Soldiers Sequel Recruits Action Figures For Cold War

I adored Signal Studios' Toy Soldiers release to XBLA last year, enamored by its promise of a virtual toy army game that wasn't from the dull (in my opinion) Army Men series. If you were one of the 500,000+ people who bought the game and enjoyed it, too, you'll be happy to hear that a sequel is on the way!

Toy Soldiers: Cold War takes the series forward to the '80s, allowing players to "command the powerful Cold War [toy] arsenals of the USA or USSR armies". They'll be able to take control of base turrets, modern combat vehicles, fighter jets, attack helicopters, and G.I. Joe-esque commando action figures.

The game will feature a new local and online co-op multiplayer mode for its Campaign and Survival modes, as well as compettive minigames. It will also add secondary turret features (grenade launchers, scopes, tactical vission, etc.) and additional unit trees (WD-40 flame throwers, fireworks, bug spray, etc.).

Signal Studios will show off Toy Soldiers: Cold War at PAX East this weekend in the Xbox Live booth (#850). The Seattle-based developer also announced plans to release a PC version of the original Toy Soldiers in late spring/early summer.

[Via GamerBytes]

Posted by Eric Caoili on March 10, 2011 8:00 AM | Permalink

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Star Wars Dual Action Lightsaber - SITH

With the Star Wars Sith Dual Action Lightsaber, the science fiction lover in your home will be able to fight the Jedi Order in their very own intergalactic battles. Designed for ages six and up, the lightsaber is a perfect toy for anyone who has been a long-time Star Wars fan. At just the push of a button, your child will be ready to call upon the Force and blaze through the galaxy with his lit-up, double-bladed weapon!

Star Wars Sith Dual Action Lightsaber Ages: 6+ Requires: 3 "AAA" batteries (not included) 3 "AA" batteries (not included) Phillips screwdriver

What We Think Fun factor: Durability: Ease of assembly: Educational factor: The Good: A fun, neat 2-in-1 toy for any long-time Star Wars fan. The Challenging: Ideal for indoor play or darker areas--the lightsabers lose their glow in the sunlight. In a Nutshell: Double-bladed, double-dualing lightsabers that blaze with a fluorescent red glow.

This is no ordinary lightsaber -- it sports two blades in one.

Double-dualing, Double-bladed Lightsaber
The Star Wars Sith Dual Action Lightsaber includes two lightsabers--a larger one and a smaller one. The smaller one can be used on its own as an extra weapon, or it can be put into the end of the larger lightsaber to form a double-bladed weapon. Both lightsabers light up with a fluorescent blue glow.

You can also easily store the smaller Dual Action Lightsaber inside its larger twin by holding down the side buttons and releasing them once it is in place. By doing this, the Dark Side will have no idea that you are coming into battle with two weapons! Both lightsaber's light wands smoothly slide back down into themselves when your child is finished playing, leaving very little clean up.

Perfect 2-in-1 Toy for Star Wars Fans
The Star Wars Dual Action Lightsaber finally gives science fiction lovers the chance to have their very own lightsaber and take part in the eternal battle against the evil Dark Side. Both lightsabers look like those used in the timeless movies, and the lights and sounds are spot-on. One thing to keep in mind is that the lightsabers are not very bright when played in direct sunlight, but are perfect for indoors or darker areas. The lightsabers are also very lightweight, making them easy for younger children to use.

What's in the Box
One larger Sith Dual Action Lightsaber, and one smaller Sith Dual Action Lightsaber. (Batteries not included.)

Your child will feel like a true Sith warrior with the Dual Action Lightsaber. View larger.

Price: $39.99

Click here to buy from Amazon