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Voice Acting in the ‘Arkham Trilogy’

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

The voice work by various actors and actresses in the “Batman: Arkham Trilogy” is iconic. The performances by Mark Hamill as the Joker and John Noble as the voice of the Scarecrow are on the Mount Rushmore of video game voice acting.

As I was watching the recent film “The Long Walk,” where Mark Hamill portrays the Major, the sinister overseer of the deadly walking contest, I couldn’t help but think how Hamill has given us so many memorable performances on film, on television, and in video games. The Major was so interesting in “The Long Walk,” I wish he had more screen time. His voice acting as the Joker in the “Arkham Trilogy” is the industry standard of what an outstanding actor can do with a video game role. He’s been highly praised for his work as the Joker, going all the way back to “Batman: The Animated Series.”

Scarecrow, the primary antagonist of 2015’s “Batman: Arkham Knight,” is voiced by the Australian actor John Noble. Noble has a face that’s instantly recognisable. I remember him from Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. He’s an actor when I see him, I say, “Oh, I like him.” He seems to always give an absorbing, restraint performance. But there is nothing about his voice acting as the Scarecrow that’s restraint. The Scarecrow is extremely menacing in “Batman: Arkham Knight,” and that’s because of Noble’s acting.

image source: vg247.com

The touch of distortion in the Scarecrow’s voice adds to the danger of the character. In “Arkham Knight” Noble as the Scarecrow sounds a little like Vincent Price. I loved that. I’m a big Price fan, and I watched many of his classic horror films this year, leading to Halloween. The Scarecrow seems like he wins at the end of “Knight” when Batman and he have their final confrontation.

In any Batman video game, the villains always heighten the ominous tension throughout the Cape Crusader’s journey.

Tara Strong’s vocal performance as Harley Quinn in “Batman: Arkham City” was outstanding.

 

‘Tush Push’ as an ‘NFL Blitz’ Play

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

When “NFL Blitz” was released, I played the game for so many hours that I’d lose track of time. One thing that I always felt was missing from the classic NFL game was more running plays. You would often have to toss a lateral to a teammate to run the ball up the field. I admit, throwing was a lot more fun, but a few running plays in the jumbo formations would’ve given the play a more offensive balance.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ “tush push” would’ve been perfect for “NFL Blitz.”

In the second quarter of the Baltimore Ravens preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts, they converted a first down around the 50-yard-line by running a “tush push” play.

When the Ravens got the first down, I thought, Oh, the “tush push,” good for them. I was happy to see them use it and have it work. I couldn’t stand the play when the Eagles first started using it. It really bothered me for some strange reason. It even agitated me when they did it. Particularly when they scored a touchdown running it. There was something just off about it.

I had an epiphany: now I think I like it. Like jumping from one political party to another, I’m not sure why I’ve grown to anticipate the “tush push” by a team that only needs a few inches for a first down or a touchdown. Fresh, new things take time to get used to.

The “tush push” is, at its core, a variation of the quarterback sneak—a play that dates to football’s beginning. In an outdated sneak, the quarterback, positioned under centre, takes the snap and instantly surges forward behind the offensive line, trying to gain the necessary inch or two for a first down or a touchdown. The “tush push” alters this by employing one or more players behind the quarterback, who, at the snap, bodily push the quarterback from behind, propelling them forward with greater force.

Da Bomb was my favourite offensive play when playing “NFL Blitz” on my Nintendo 64. I would often select Hail Mary, but that always felt too easy to score on the opposing team. My favourite defence to play was Suicide Blitz and 2 Man Blitz. Suicide Blitz was always tricky because you could get burned with no defensive players playing back.

 

Grand Theft Auto VI’s Second Trailer

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

I’m an enormous fan of the “Grand Theft Auto” franchise and I’m looking forward to the release of “GTA VI,” but I must be honest…I wasn’t that impressed by the newest “GTA VI” trailer that was released a month ago.

There are some on the internet who have some absurd conspiracy theories about what happens in the next installment of “GTA.” I’ve heard one about car keys that made me laugh. I was told one about the pregnant woman that appears in the trailer that was absolutely ridiculous. “GTA VI” is the biggest video game in the world. Predictions and theories are going to be all over the map, but some are senseless.

I think there will be a lot more role-playing mechanics added to the game from the previous versions. There were 31 million views of the second trailer in 8 hours. Rockstar released it on a random Tuesday to please curious fans. I like the first trailer for “GTA VI” more. The use of music in “GTA” trailers has been terrific, especially for “Vice City” with “I Ran” by the band A Flock of Seagulls. That trailer for “Vice City” made me want to play that game the moment I watched it.


source: Rockstar Games

The visuals look amazing in the new trailer. The details of what characters are wearing look incredible. There’s a moment in a club where our principal characters (perhaps) dance and it looks like a scene out of a film. I paused the trailer and watched that moment again. The shiny, party dress that our lead female protagonist is wearing looks so real.

I don’t think any gaming company has ever had a more ace-in-the-hole than Rockstar has with the “GTA VI” release. Maybe in all of entertainment. Everyone knew Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” would be a smash hit. “GTA VI” has that level of anticipation for a piece of entertainment.

 

‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 So Far

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

WARNING: Possible Spoilers ahead!

It seemed everyone universally thought the second episode of this new season of “The Last of Us,” titled “Through the Valley,” was incredibly dramatic. It was what diehard fans of the video game franchise were dreading, but knew was coming eventually on the hit series.

I don’t see how anyone who enjoys episodic television could’ve disliked the second ambitious episode of this new season. Pedro Pascal’s character, Joel, isn’t in the episode very much, but when he is, it’s intense and heartbreaking.

The third episode of the season, titled “The Path,” was much slower than episode two, but it was a good “come down” episode. I liked how fast Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) arrived in Seattle to avenge Joel’s death. We didn’t need a long journey from Jackson, Wyoming to Seattle. I’m fully invested in how Ellie will get her revenge on Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), Joel’s murderer. I have a feeling there are many twists and turns ahead. Like other great HBO television shows, “Game of Thrones” and “The Sopranos,” you never know how the season will play out. So far, the writing has been excellent and tight.

In the second episode, when Abby was crawling along the fence line as the zombies were attacking her was nightmarish and thrilling. It’s one of the scariest moments I’ve seen on a television show or film in a few years. I never played “The Last of Us: Part II,” so I don’t know if the terrifying scene is from the video game, but it was shot and executed perfectly.

Some of the marketing for the new season was somewhat misleading. Almost every commercial or trailer for the second season showed a great deal of Pedro Pascal as Joel. I get why they did that, but we only got the character for the first two episodes. And he didn’t appear on screen in the second episode until the 21-minute mark.

 

Brilliant Ad Strategy for ‘GTA VI’

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive still haven’t announced a release date for their much anticipated “Grand Theft Auto VI.” I believe the game will be released by the end of this year, possibly before Christmas, but they haven’t released any new footage or a new trailer for the smash hit. And, in a clever way, it’s genius marketing.

“Grand Theft Auto VI” is making all the other game production studios nervous about when to release their games. It’s smart not to put out a release date for “GTA VI.” They know at Rockstar Games that they could wait a week before the release to drop an ad; the anticipation from fans of the “GTA” franchise is already at a summit.

I can’t remember a time when there was so much enthusiasm for a video game release. Maybe when “Halo 2” was released in 2004? If Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive want the launch to be swift and sudden, I don’t think they lose a single unit sell of “GTA VI.” I’m sure there will be fans camping out at Best Buy stores on the eve of its long-awaited release. The brand is iconic, and it doesn’t need much promotion to break sales records in a matter of hours. “GTA VI” could be the biggest selling video game in history, and I know the key people at Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games think that as well.


source: Rockstar Games

Big advertising opportunities are few and far between now to the end of summer. We just had the Final Four. If it’s a spring ’26 release, maybe an ad before the first NFL game of the 2025-26 season. The “GTA” franchise is so prevalent, I could see an ad in the theater before a Marvel film this summer.

It was recently announced that the biggest Nintendo Switch 2 games like “Mario Kart World” could cost $80 dollars. That means “GTA VI” could be priced at $100 dollars. And with all the buzz about how the sixth entry is “cinematic,” it could be priced even higher. “GTA VI” has been listed by a Swiss retailer for $112 dollars. With the demand so high, I expect the price point of the game to be expensive.

I wonder if “GTA VI” will last fifteen years plus before we get “GTA VII.”

 

 

‘Ninja Gaiden Shadow’ on Game Boy

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with ninjas. They just seemed cool to me. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” but they were alright. For about two years, they seemed everywhere for a while. There was some oversaturation of the Ninja Turtles. The game I enjoyed the most involving ninjas was 1991’s “Ninja Gaiden Shadow” for Nintendo Game Boy.

I’ve always wondered why ninjas haven’t been used more in video games. I know there’s “Ghost of Tsushima,” one of the biggest and most beautifully designed games out there. But there’s not as many games that feature ninjas as you’d think.

When you’re playing a ninja game on your Game Boy, it takes a great deal of concentration, and the Game Boy’s screen is so tiny anyway. It took a little effort to get through the different acts with Ryu Hayabusa, the protagonist of “Ninja Garden Shadow.” You’re trying to save New York City from the forces of Emperor Garuda.

“Ninja Gaiden Shadow” featured basic play workings compared to what you used in the NES trilogy. I still found the gameplay thrilling. I enjoyed using the grappling hook that allowed Ryu to latch onto the difficult-to-reach railings. It took some getting used to but once I was able to grapple better, it became easy to use, even on the Game Boy. The Fire Wheel attack that Ryu could only use five times seemed like a waste to me. It did damage, but very little. And I thought it looked sort of ridiculous.

My friends all thought that “Ninja Gaiden Shadow” was very similar to classic NES games like “Double Dragon” and “Kung Fu.” I disagreed, immensely. All three are unique in their own ways. “Ninja Gaiden Shadow” was originally planned to be a Game Boy adaptation of “Shadow of the Ninja,” the NES game. I never played it, but I heard it was fun.

image source: retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com

“Kill Bill” is one of my favorite movies. I’ve watched the Crazy 88 scene dozens of times. The Crazy 88 aren’t exactly ninjas, but they fight like it, and Uma Thurman’s The Bride takes them on like they are. That extended fight scene took me back to my fascination with ninjas when I was younger. “Kill Bill” could’ve been an incredible property to adapt into a video game. I’ve heard that they did a prototype for an Xbox game, but nothing came of it.

 

Tekken 4 and Exams

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

My brother plays a lot of Legend of Zelda when he gets home from work. He told me it helps him relax. Video games don’t help me relax all that much, with all the fighting and shooting of arrows. It takes his mind off things, and it takes a great deal of concentration, and he enjoys that. He said, “It makes me sharper.” I understood that.

I recall hearing someone talk about a fascinating study that suggested surgeons make fewer mistakes if they play video games. While I’m not sure about the accuracy of that data, it makes sense. Playing any game—like golf, for instance—could enhance focus and steadiness.

Before a large test in college, I would study for a few hours and then I would play an intense video game. Tekken 4 on PlayStation 2 was usually my go-to game before a test. Any Tekken game is extreme, and it takes a great deal of concentration. So much so that it was a bit of a release before doing something that could be stressful. The Bandai Namco Studios developed game was extremely popular at the time. My roommates and I would play against each other on lunch breaks and slow evenings. They played Tekken 4 before exams as well.

Tekken 4 channeled my concentration to something different than all the information that I had been studying. That short aversion of Tekken 4 probably helped me get a better grade on my exams and quizzes. I just didn’t want to overdue the video game playing at university.

The Strong Franchise of ‘The Lion King’

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

When I was little and I held my Game Boy in my hands, and I would play “The Lion King,” I would’ve never thought that in 2024 the musical would still be an enormous hit on Broadway and a new film would be coming out in December, “Mufasa: The Lion King.”

When the original “The Lion King” was released in 1994, I could never get a seat, because it was always sold out at my local theater. I wasn’t into Disney films at that age, but it was such an enormous hit that I was curious to see what all the hype was about. I think I finally caught the film on video, months after its theatrical release. I remember thinking that the voice acting was very good.

When I bought “The Lion King” game for Game Boy, I remember thinking how hard the game was to play at first. Simba was difficult to control when he swung from rhino’s tails. The long swings from tree-to-tree didn’t seem so much like “The Lion King” and more like a game where a monkey is the protagonist. I thought it was great how Simba ages throughout the game as he continues his journey.

I’ve never understood why “The Lion King” hasn’t been featured more when it comes to Disney parks. Disney is planning to have a Disney villains themed park, which I think is a great idea, and you know Scar must be included. Scar, voiced by the amazing Jeremy Irons, is in the top five of Disney villains. Scar is one of the most sinister Disney villains; up there with Lady Tremaine from “Cinderella.”

I didn’t know “Mufasa: The Lion King” was even in production. When I saw the trailer before “Inside Out 2,” I thought it looked decent. I don’t get really excited for a new “Lion King,” because, what more do we need to know or see about that world? It all sort of looks the same and the music is always overblown to remind us that it’s a “King” property. I don’t blame Disney; the brand makes them a ton of money.

“The Lion King” is the third-longest-running musical in Broadway history. The 2019 photorealist, animated remake made $1.6 billion worldwide!

McAfee and WWE 2K24 Are a Good Match

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

I’ve seen a great deal of criticism about ESPN’s Pat McAfee getting a DLC pack for the game “WWE 2K24.” I’ve seen “WWE 2K24” players on social media calling it “annoying” and asking for a discount on next year’s game. I don’t understand what all the vitriol is about. McAfee is involved in wrestling as an announcer, so it seems like a natural fit that he has DLC pack for the newest WWE release. And the fact that you can play as his co-workers on “The Pat McAfee Show” is pretty exciting. I’ve enjoyed playing the game as Boston Connor and A.J. Hawk. I don’t see what the big deal is. Do fans of WWE take their video gaming so seriously that McAfee can’t be a part of the enormously successful game, along with his friends? It seems like “Much Ado About Nothing,” to quote a famous playwright

If fans of the game don’t want to play as anyone from “The Pat McAfee Show,” then choose not to. It’s simple. Is there too much Pat McAfee? That’s a whole other discussion. But him being a part of “WWE 2K24” makes a lot of sense to me. He has a younger crowd; and what do a great deal of young people do? Play video games.

image source: 411 Mania

I didn’t like Pat McAfee at first when I watched him on “College Gameday”; he was so different than anything else on ESPN. Then, I started watching some of his daily shows and I really enjoyed them. McAfee has a quick wit that’s rare on television, especially on sports programs. I found McAfee’s interaction with his co-hosts and friends hilarious and entertaining. I kept tuning in, and now I’m sort of hooked. I admit, the show isn’t for everyone, but it’s such a fun and fresh sports show.

I never liked wrestling video games until “W2K Battle Grounds” on Nintendo Switch. I always play “W2K” with Roman Reigns. I’m not a huge wrestling fan, but Reigns’ style is unique which makes him entertaining to watch. And in “W2K” I always seem to win my matches with him. He’s one of the brightest stars of the ring for a reason.

It’s a bit strange playing the game with non-wrestlers but I think that adds to the mystique of the matches. And A.J. Hawk seems like he could be a pro-wrestler. I hope “WWE 2K24” fans come around to the McAfee DLC pack. If not, oh well.

 

‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ on Game Boy

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

One of my favorite video games to play on my Nintendo Game Boy was 1992’s “Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” The game was based on the Francis Ford Coppola film that came out that year.

The game starts with several easy levels like “Scene 1: A Journey Through Transylvania.” The game is like the classic Nintendo game “Ghosts N’ Goblins.” Ghouls rise from the ground suddenly and you must leap over obstacles that will kill you. There are boxes with rewards that have question marks on them, like in the original “Super Mario Bros.,” which I always found strange. It’s one of the first games that I remember where you could walk through walls to get around.

One of the main ghouls that you must defeat, a large, black ghost that floats over you, sort of looks like the Marvel character Venom. The graphics of the ghosts at the time were exceptional. They’re like something out of a modern horror movie. The fun game doesn’t have much to do with the iconic film. The game’s sets are pretty generic and similar as you get further into the game. There are skeletons that just explode when you approach them; I don’t recall any exploding skeletons in the film.

source: supplied

In “Scene 7: Return to Castle Dracula,” you finally see Count Dracula. It looks like Gary Oldman’s Dracula, too. The ending is cool, but I wish there was more Dracula throughout the game. They should’ve had Oldman’s narration throughout the game, to make players feel a stronger connected to the film.

I remember seeing “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” with friends when I was little. It’s still one of my favorite horror films. And it’s one of Gary Oldman’s best performances. The film has such a unique look. I loved the big battle that opens the film that used puppets and creative sets. You never know what’s practical and what are special effects. Coppola used mostly in-camera effects, but you can’t tell. The Oscar winning director is a master at using cinematic trickery.