“It’s more than a little ironic that what makes the original Tron (released in 1982) so visually striking isn’t the rudimentary computer graphics that it features, which would go on to inspire the widespread use of CGI in cinema. No, it’s something far more low-tech: the ‘backlit animation’ that would give the film’s ‘in computer’ sequences an ethereal glow; it was so expensive and time-consuming that it would never be used in another film. Although it is, in its own way, visually stunning, Tron: Legacy’s lack of such a ‘human’ process in its development gives the film a feeling that’s far colder than the original.”

Link (Blu-Ray review)

The August 2009 issue of GamesMaster magazine was its “Hands-on E3 Special” and I was those hands – quite literally, too, because loads of the “hands-on” boxes in this issue are written by me – even if I didn’t write the rest of the article.

So a slightly odd way of doing things, but if you’ve got this issue, I wrote the full previews for Milo and Kate, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, APB, Halo: ODST and Red Steel 2.

Meanwhile, I wrote just the hands-on boxes for Forza Motorsport 3, Blur, Split/Second, Gran Turismo PSP, Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Mini Ninjas, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Heavy Rain and Splinter Cell: Conviction.

It’s all tip-top content, though!

“I’m lazy. I’m so lazy that I’m pretty sure I’m overpaying for cable, because I haven’t bothered to shop around and find out if there are better deals available–though with cable TV seeming to be a duopoly between Bell and Rogers–neither whose prices really differ significantly–in Toronto, I’m the kind of beaten down consumer that these huge corporations like–to lazy and ultimately apathetic to do anything about getting ripped off. But sometimes things annoy me. And Roger’s treatment of the Local Programming Improvement Fund is one of them.”

An article in which I get supremely annoyed at Canadian cable companies and invite people to complain. Proper journalism! Sort of.

“Last week one of our regular commenters, Derek Jensen, said he’d be going to see District 9 again rather than anything new. Perhaps this week we can convince him (and you?) to go and see In the Loop, because it’s still playing and still fantastic. It’s at the Cumberland (159 Cumberland Street) daily at 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7:15 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. The last film we trailed repeatedly was probably the final cut of Blade Runner, so that should let you know how much we like In the Loop.”

A lovely big picture of one of the completely rubbish new characters they added to Street Fighter IV for no particular reason on the cover of this issue of Game Reactor, which mostly serves to remind me I haven’t played it enough recently and also to be annoyed that they didn’t put any of the brilliantly designed characters from Street Fighter III in IV (like Dudley, who I might have complained about missing before.)

This article has nothing to do with Street Fighter IV though – it’s actually some coverage of the indie games that had warmed my heart across the cold winter – specifically Super Hypercube and the all conquering Spelunky.

PDF link

“Officially, there is one film you need to see this week. It is In the Loop. Now, we know you’ve heard about nothing but Inglourious Basterds for weeks—if not months—by now, and I admit it’s easy to be swayed by such an obvious option: a clever, entirely fictional take on a defining moment in history, from a director well known for his skill with dialogue.”

I keep forgetting that I write this column. Unfortunate, really, considering it’s such a lovely magazine (in terms of design; being in Danish I still can’t read a jot of it.)

I should really have remembered writing this one, at the very least to let Jim Munroe and Jim McGinley know that I got some coverage of the Artsy Game Incubator/TOJam Artcade some coverage in Denmark. And probably to let Benjamin Rivers know there’s a whacking great picture of him in the article.

Oh well. I guess I can let them know now!

PDF Link

“If there’s one thing that Torontoist thought when we saw the trailer for District 9, it was “we can’t wait to play that video game; it looks awesome.” It wasn’t until some time later that we put together that the director, Neil Blomkamp, was indeed the director originally attached to direct the (ill-fated) Halo adaptation (and it doesn’t help that there’s a game called Section 8 due out soon, either).”

“Recently we’ve—rather randomly—been reading someone’s blog reminiscing about the highs and lows (mostly lows) of living with a scholarship basketball player in college, Livin’ Large. It was after reading about ten or so entries we realized that we were, most likely, reading the blog of the film we’ll probably be writing about in five years or so. It kind of dampened our negativity about Julie and Julia, the film version of someone’s blog in which they attempted to chronicle their efforts to cook their way through Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking. After all, perhaps the original blog was as pleasingly narrative as Livin’ Large?”

“Viral marketing, eh? It’s generally annoying, but sometimes genius. In fact, sometimes it’s too genius, because Funny People’s viral pièce de résistance, Raaaaaaaandy is clearly ten times funnier than the film it’s supposed to be promoting. Starring Aziz Ansari and supposedly not a razor-sharp takedown of comedy’s bête noire, Dane Cook (hmm, we’ve gone a bit French today), it’s still perfect if you read it that way. God, we hate that guy.”