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Marvel’s Joe Fixit Deserves a Game Piece

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

When I devoured The Incredible Hulk comics growing up, I always liked it when the writers had Hulk take on the identity of Joe Fixit, a shadowy behind the scenes figure, working in Las Vegas on behalf of a corrupt casino owner, Michael Berengetti. Joe Fixit was a morally vague Vegas enforcer and tough guy.

Joe Fixit seems like an obvious choice for a video game. Grey Hulk in his dark suit and fedora, creating carnage across Sin City seems perfect for an Android or console game.

Joe Fixit could be assigned a task by shady casino owner, Michael Berengetti, and the game could follow Fixit throughout a night in Vegas fighting off bad guys around Vegas landmarks.

Fixit could fight a bunch of hoodlums on the Ghostbar balcony of The Palms Casino. He could do battle with some baddies in the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower. All of Vegas could be Joe Fixit’s playground in this game. The game could be a Mortal Kombat or Mafia sort of format. There could be a lot of dark alley fights, where Fixit, in the comics, would brawl with several villains. A fight in or around the Bellagio fountains pool could be a fun set piece.

Joe Fixit is a playable character in Marvel: Contest of Champions. I highly recommend a Fixit and Juggernaut battle; it’s a thrill if you’re a fan of the two characters. A Fixit game could have the sharp graphics of Contest of Champions, but its gameplay and mission could be like Nintendo’s original Double Dragon. Not exactly like a level game, but each Vegas landmark stage could be Fixit getting closer to completing his mission. What Marvel villain could be waiting for Joe Fixit at the final stage? The developers would have an enormous catalogue of villains to choose from. Kingpin or Juggernaut in a casino high-rise on The Strip?

Sometimes, I still break out my back issues of The Incredible Hulk when Joe Fixit appeared. Oh… Joe Fixit fighting a bunch of hoods dressed as pirates at Treasure Island. That could be a visual feast for gamers.

image source: Marvel Database

 

Negan in Tekken 7 is Smart

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

When it was revealed at EVO that Negan from “The Walking Dead” would be a new character in Tekken 7, I thought it was one of the most out of left field crossover ideas ever conceived. But after some thought, it’s pretty smart for both properties.

I wonder who called who? Did the makers of Tekken 7 call “The Walking Dead” people, or was it the other way around? Negan being in Tekken 7 is an odd choice because the character is more of a manipulator and schemer than a brawler. However, he has had his moments of hand-to-hand combat in the comic book.

And who does this help more, Tekken 7 or “The Walking Dead”? The ratings for the AMC television show have been on the decline. Negan is a fascinating character, but since his appearance, the show’s ratings have been on a downward spiral. Will adding Negan bring more players to Tekken 7? I’m sure Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the actor who portrays Negan, will have a blast doing the voice work for the popular game. Like his Negan or not, Morgan is a solid actor who always elevates everything he’s involved in.

image source: golem13.fr

I’m sure when Negan is available in Tekken 7, every gamer will select him to see what he’s capable of in a scrap. It’ll be interesting to see Negan’s fight moves. His bob wired baseball bat, Lucille, will be appealing to use on an opponent, but I don’t see how the game keeps its Teen rating if you do. In the comic book and the show, Lucille is a very violent weapon. I can’t see Negan doing air combat flips and powerful jump kicks. He could ground and pound and do brutal overhead hits that result in wall bounces.

Those in attendance at EVO seemed excited that Negan will be featured in Tekken 7. They went absolutely wild when Negan was teased in the trailer. The decision of adding Negan to the Tekken franchise is a bold one. Curious gamers that are fans of both properties will find it irresistible to try a few brawls with Negan.

image source: gamegeek.gg

 

A Fortnite Gameplay Coach

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

For part-time work, I do résumé consulting. I take past work information from clients and construct and build a résumé out of what they share with me. Recently, I had a client who just graduated from college. When I asked him to tell me about his work history, he told me that he makes money as a Fortnite gameplay coach. He said that he did it part-time and he charges $20 dollars per hour for his expertise on the Epic Games smash. The job surprised me a little, but it made sense; it seems like it’s the year of Fortnite.

I first heard about the free game when the singer Drake tweeted something about playing it with a famous gamer named Ninja. Then, quickly, I started hearing others talking about Fortnite. Now, I know people who stay in on Saturday night playing the addictive game.

My client told me that he mostly helps gamers with Fortnite: Battle Royale, and he plays along with them to guide them through combat. He helps with fighting strategies and how to be a better wall builder for shielding during fighting. And he said he always teaches clients to keep moving as if a sniper is always aiming at you from a far. The best advice he says he gives: Getting good angles during your enemies reload is vital. 

My client didn’t share with me how many actual wins he has. He sheepishly said to me, “A lot.” He added, “Every player wants wins and they’ll pay to gain them.”

As I listened to my client, I wondered if any of the information would be important to a potential employer. I suspect that many people in their 30’s and 40’s would have no idea what Fortnite was. But then, with the number of players rising into the millions, perhaps they would? The game’s just not being played by teenagers and college students. A potential employer who’s a fan of Fortnite may be impressed by a job candidate who took the initiative to start a small business to help other gamers. It’s one of the most non-traditional jobs that I’ve ever heard from a client.

There is a unique, unofficial Fortnite marketplace that exists. Fans of the game are buying other player’s profiles and skins on eBay for thousands of dollars. Fortnite, in an odd way, has become a game of status. None of the side businesses around Fortnite are approved by the makers of the game. But, when anything becomes as massively popular as Fortnite, an unconstrained marketplace is going to spring up.

I have never played Fortnite, but after my meeting with my client, I watched several live streams of the game. I don’t have a desire to play; however, as I was watching the live stream, 35,000 other people were watching as well. That’s a popular video game.

image source: inverse.com

 

Man Walks into a Bar and Sees a Pac-Man Machine

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Source: Steve Ringman/The Chronicle 1981

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

I recently walked into a hipster bar that I had never been in before. I immediately felt slightly old. Everyone there was in their early twenties; some of them didn’t look old enough to order a beer. As I made my way past the bustling, long bar, I noticed something in the back corner of the place that I hadn’t seen in a longtime.

A large group of twentysomethings were gathered around an original Pac-Man arcade machine. I hadn’t seen a Pac-Man machine since I was a little kid. It was a smack of nostalgia in a place I didn’t expect it.

Like the Rubik’s Cube or the DeLorean DMC-12, Pac-Man is an 80s icon. Seeing a vintage machine with a group of Millennials playing it, made me curious. I sat at a small booth near the Pac-Man machine and watched the young group feed the machine quarters. They were having such a blast trying to see who could reach the highest score with one quarter.

source: ausretrogamer

After a few craft beers, I wanted to try my hand at Pac-Man; but they had taken over the machine. It was entertaining watching them shriek and groan when they got devoured by a ghost. It may’ve been the first time any of them had ever played the arcade version of Pac-Man, but I still wanted my turn.

Pac-Man brings people together. From the time the game was released in arcades in October 1980, Pac-Man has been a unifier that you could play with friends. Pac-Man is cross-generational. It seems simple at first, but as you keep playing, the difficulty of each stage keeps you addicted to clear the maze.

When Pac-Man was released in 1980, movie theatre owners and movie moguls were worried that the game would hurt the film industry. Pac-Man was taking money away from Paramount and 20th Century Fox. Pac-Man’s enormous popularity was short-lived, but at its height, movie studio executives had to be worried about how long they would be competing with the bright yellow machines.

I never got to play the Pac-Man machine in that bar that night, but I enjoyed watching the twentysomethings play a game that this October will turn 38-years-old. Will there ever be another Pac-Man? I doubt it.

source: ausretrogamer

 

Gottlieb’s Freddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street Pinball Machine

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title image: Liberty Games UK

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

When I was a kid, there was a bowling alley near my house that always had the best pinball machines. One day, I walk in with my friends, and there is Gottlieb Premier’s Freddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street, right next to the men’s bathroom entrance.

I’ve always been a Freddy Kruger fan. Some of the films are better than others; the third and the fourth instalments of the franchise are my favourites. What Renny Harlin did with “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master” should be studied in film schools on how to jolt new life into a successful franchise. I find the Rialto cinema scene when Alice is getting sucked into the movie screen to be a stunning and haunting visual.

Freddy was everywhere when I was a kid. He even had his own television series “Freddy’s Nightmares.” Most of the episodes were poorly produced, but it was always fun seeing Freddy introduce or close every anthology story. Some of them were really bad. The show had a short run and it had little to do with the films other than Freddy’s short appearances.

The Gottlieb pinball machine was like an extension of my Freddy fandom. When I wasn’t in school, I would watch one of the films and then go to the bowling alley to play the machine. I would save up my allowance and get my dollar bills converted to quarters at the front counter.

The sound effects of the machine were terrific. I liked how the film’s score played when you put your quarters in and throughout play. My favourite part of the machine was the large, plastic Freddy head that the game balls would come rolling out of. A friend, years later, who loved the machine as much as I did, told me that the Freddy head was the first thing to go. He said that the plastic would erode after a few years. The machine at the bowling alley already had some wear and tear, but it didn’t make me enjoy it any less. The Freddy glove artwork along the side of the machine was a nice, scary touch.

If I could ever afford a fully restored pinball machine, Gottlieb’s Freddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street would be the one that I would buy. Perhaps because of simple childhood nostalgia? That, and it’s such a fun interactive pinball machine connected to my favourite horror property.

After a few months, the Freddy machine just vanished. I asked the manager of the bowling alley where the machine went; he told me that it didn’t make any money. He added, “That machine was giving people the creeps when they went to wizz.”

The Freddy pinball machine was a little creepy, but on my play alone, I know it made money.

image source: The Arcade Flyer Archive

 

What if Ready Player One was made by a Gamer?

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Steven Spielberg, the legendary director of Ready Player One, has let it be known that he is not a gamer. But what if a gamer was given the chance to adapt Ernest Cline’s science fiction bestseller?

Spielberg’s ambitious film was entertaining and visually stunning at times, but there was something about the story, especially the virtual reality scenes, that felt detached and not cohesive. Cline’s book was heavy on the 1980s nostalgia (perhaps, a little too heavy); nevertheless, you really felt like you were in a fantastical universe.

What made the novel so good was the power of escapism for our young hero, Wade Watts. The film didn’t capture that heightened sense of stepping away from the real world into a new, immersive virtual world, like the book accomplished so brilliantly.

If a gamer had made “Ready Player One,” the OASIS would’ve felt more authentic. Don’t get me wrong, “Ready Player One” captures the virtual reality experience better than any film in recent cinema history; VR is not an easy plot device to pull off on screen. I just didn’t feel totally immersed in the world Spielberg and his digital wizards created. Cline put it on the page brilliantly.

A gamer knows what it’s like to be another virtual being. That innocent escapism is one of the reasons so many people play video games; especially first-person shooter games. Maybe a gamer’s eye could’ve presented a more engrossing and cohesive virtual world. Spielberg’s virtual world, unlike Cline’s, felt banal and, at moments, enclosed.

The film was fun, although, Spielberg could’ve consulted with some seasoned gamers to create a more unreserved, virtual world experience. But, for 71, Spielberg can still direct an action sequence with more skill and precision than most directors half his age.

image source: Teaser Trailer

 

Going On A Rampage

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

When I was little and I would get my weekly allowance, I would run to my local arcade and play Bally Midway’s Rampage; one of the greatest arcade games ever made. Warm memories of turning cities to rubble with George, Ralph or Lizzie’s fists are still fresh.

I felt disgusted when I saw the trailer for the new film based on the Rampage video game starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It actually made me a little angry. My first thought: Does Hollywood have to suck the life out of everything 1980’s nostalgia? Can’t they leave Rampage alone – something that brought me so much joy when I was a child.

I saw the Rampage trailer before I watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. If Johnson can make Rampage as fun as Jumanji, the film just might work.

image source: Den Of Geek

Rampage was such a unique game. I hated getting hit with dynamite thrown by soldiers out of high-rise windows. There was something satisfying about causing so much destruction on each level. I usually played as Lizzie, a Godzilla-like dinosaur/lizard transformed by a radioactive lake. I chose Lizzie because I was a super fan of Godzilla movies when I was little.

The sounds of the arcade game are iconic. The familiar sounds of punching a building to pieces and reducing it to a pile of bricks gives me a childlike, reminiscent delight. The hardest part of the game was knowing if the people who appeared in the skyscraper windows were good or bad. Some were there to give you food, others were there to be saved for points, and some were there to throw explosives at you. The latter were the ones that made the game so challenging.

image source: The Arcade Flyer Archive

The helicopters that attacked you from above were my favorite part. There was nothing more gratifying than punching one of them out of the sky and watching the chopper explode. Punching the vehicles below you, like taxi cabs and railcars, was oddly gratifying as a kid as well.

I hope in the film they have soldiers and helicopters firing at the large creatures. That could be entertaining if the CGI team push their skills to the maximum. I believe the film is set in Chicago, a city that was on the dateline in the classic arcade game.

The filmmakers could do something original and exceptional with Rampage. Although, the track record of the quality of recent video game adaptations has been dreadful.

 

Is the ‘Alien’ Universe So Beloved?

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Another multiplayer shooter title set in the “Alien” cinematic universe for consoles and PCs is in the works at game developer Cold Iron Studios. The developer was just acquired by FoxNext Games, part of 21st Century Fox.

Aaron Loeb, FoxNext Games president of studios, said in announcing the deal, “…all of us at FoxNext Games are thrilled to be working with them (Cold Iron) as they create an action-packed persistent world, steeped in the mysteries of this beloved ‘Alien’ universe.”

Loeb’s quote got me thinking: Is the “Alien” universe still “beloved”?

“Alien: Covenant” was a big disappointment at the box office. It doesn’t seem like the best time to invest in making a new “Alien” game. There needs to be a break from the “Alien” franchise for a while. I’m an “Alien” universe fan. “Alien 3” for Super Nintendo and “Aliens: Colonial Marines” for Xbox 360 are two of my all-time favourite video games. And James Cameron’s “Aliens” is one of the greatest action movies ever made.

When it comes to first-person shooter games, it’ll be hard to top “Aliens: Colonial Marines.” If FoxNext Games and the creative team at Cold Iron can create something as entertaining as “Colonial Marines” it’ll be a surprising accomplishment, but fans of the “Alien” universe are not demanding a new game. But if they make something fun and original, I’ll probably be buying it on the day of its release.

Lately, with the films “Prometheus” and “Aliens: Covenant,” I’ve felt a little burned by the franchise. I did find the third act of “Covenant” entertaining, but overall, it felt like forced storytelling by the legendary Ridley Scott.

Game play is key; although, could a new game set in the “Alien” universe tell a better story than some of the recent films? As an “Alien” fan, I’ll keep my hopes up that FoxNext Games can produce something distinctive.

 

image source: jonvilma.com

 

The Incredible Hulk: Smashed It On The Sega Game Gear

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

My love for the comic book character The Incredible Hulk started with my Sega Game Gear. As a kid, when I got a Game Gear, I played The Incredible Hulk game on the console all the time. I played it on the school bus; late at night when my parents thought I was sleeping; and when I should’ve been working on homework. I couldn’t get enough of the side-scrolling action game.

The Sega Game Gear gets a bad rap, but the small console had several great games. When all of my friends had Nintendo Game Boys, I was playing my Game Gear. I always thought the graphics were sharper on the Game Gear than the Game Boy. The game play looked similar to the actual Sega Genesis game.

Playing The Incredible Hulk everyday made me a fan of the green superhero. I started collecting the comic book because of the Game Gear game. My collection began with a few comics, but as my love for the character grew, a few comics became a hundred in about a year. I’ve always been fascinated by how Dr. Bruce Banner can morph into The Hulk and his dilemma with controlling it. Is it a gift or a curse? Both Banner and The Hulk have many layers as characters. When I was a kid, I connected to both characters.

I was bullied in grade school. Perhaps a part of me wished I could change like Dr. Banner could when he got angry. I played the game before school because my Game Gear was a pleasant distraction before the sometimes harsh school day began.

The Incredible Hulk was a simple side-scrolling game, but those were my favourite games when I was young. I never used the cheat codes, because I enjoyed the challenge of progressing through every level. And I took pleasure in being The Hulk and causing as much destruction as possible.

The Hulk game and my Game Gear were a nice escape at a time when I needed it. Sega may have not sold as many Game Gears as they had hoped, but I cherished mine, and found it far superior to the Nintendo Game Boy.

image source: Game Oldies

 

Tomb Raider Film Looks Like 2013 Game

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

It is rare that the tenth instalment of a video game is the best of the franchise. 2013’s Tomb Raider, an action-adventure game developed by Crystal Dynamics, was a reboot that reconstructed the origins of Lara Croft. The Warner Bros. Pictures film, coming out in March, starring Alicia Vikander, looks very similar to the classic ’13 Raider.

I liked the gritty, dark turn the ’13 Raider took. The violence was slightly outrageous, but it definitely pleased the fans of the franchise. It was time for a reboot and Crystal Dynamics and the publisher, Square Enix, knew it. It was vastly different from all of the prior Tomb Raider games and it was grounded by Lara Croft’s origin story. I think it’s one of the best games of the decade…so far.

The new Tomb Raider film’s trailer has the same colour pallet as the ’13 game. It looks like the film’s director, Roar Uthaug, has pulled various scenes directly from the hit game. The game centred on Croft’s survival and exploring an island and its various tombs. That’s what the film appears to centre on as well.

image source: The Nerd Mag

Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander looks just like the ’13 Croft; it’s indistinguishable. She’s an excellent actress; just watch Ex Machina or The Danish Girl. It’ll be interesting to see if Vikander can pull off such an iconic action character in a film that could be a tent-pole film for Warner Bros. She has the physicality and dramatic chops to bring a truly captivating Croft to the big screen.

I hope Vikander’s Croft is as cold blooded as the’13 game version. The gritty compositions, and some of the tilted camera angles in the trailer, mirror the imagery from the game. It’s just a teaser trailer, but I like what I see. The costume design is also on point, which is important for a property that has such a large following.

We have to wait until March to see if Tomb Raider will be that one great film based on a video game. From the teaser, and being an aficionado of the ’13 game, I’m anticipating Raider almost as much as Disney’s Solo: A Star Wars Story and Avengers: Infinity War.

Assassin’s Creed and Warcraft had good trailers too. I turned Assassin’s Creed off fifteen minutes in.

It’s astonishing that a film studio still hasn’t cracked the code on making an exceptional movie based on a video game franchise.

Tomb Raider has to be rated R to truly be like the ’13 game. Will it be as bold with its violence and death scenes as the iconic game? I bet it’ll be a safe PG-13 for box office reasons.