The wonderful Rez is back on XBox Live, and it looks and sounds absolutely glorious. Even though the game has an hypnotic and relaxing quality, my right thumb hurts, and with Devil May Cry 4 next week that’s just the beginning. 🙂

A few monhts ago in Gamasutra, Harvey Smith described the intriguing elements of social and political subversion in his shooter Blacksite: Area 51. The game apparently turned out to be crap, but I never got to try it. Now Gamasutra again introduces us to another contender for "politically conscious FPS games" in the form of Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. From the horrible demo just released, this game is even worse. I’m all for making games more interesting with complex themes and narratives, but the game doesn’t have to suck in order to deliver them!

Ah well, the demo for Devil May Cry 4 more than made up for the bad taste. It plays essentially like the other DMC games (1 and 3; 2 was an aberration), and looks beautiful, crisp and smooth. It may not be innovative, but I won’t say no to more of a good thing.

Edit: Check this amazing DMC4 demo run. I don’t know how he does half the things he does.

JJ Abram’s latest baby is here, after months of speculation generated by last summer’s trailer and an Internet viral campaign. It’s basically a Godzilla-like monster movie shown through the eyes of a guy’s camcorder. There are many reports of people feeling sick and even throwing up thanks to the savage shaky-cam work. I certainly saw way more people getting up and out of the theater than in any other movie I remember (except for Vatel, but that’s a different story).

I liked the movie and had a great time. I don’t consider it a great movie by any standards: the plot and writing was crap, the acting was basic at best, and a good quarter of the movie (the beginning) was uninteresting and downright boring. However, the action was intense, the visual style (once you accept the shakycam) worked very well, and the ending was satisfying.

That said, I can’t wait for the shakycam fad to pass. It can add to the atmosphere of a movie (see also United 93), but I’d like it to be the exception rather than the norm. Most of the time, when I watch a movie, I want to see what’s actually going on.

Ok, this is funny, or sad, probably both. John Romero attacks and Mike Wilson responds. I never had much respect for either guy’s public antics, and this doesn’t help, but who cares.