The "Bondurant Car Pack" for Forza Horizon arrives on Nov. 6 and offers six new rides: The 2012 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Spyder Performante; the 2012 Shelby 1000; the 2010 BMW M3 GTS; the 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C, the 1993 Nissan 240SX SE, and the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. It's 400 Microsoft points.
Unless he wants to try his luck before the U.S. Supreme Court, a backup dancer for Cypress Hill [not pictured, above] won't be getting $250 million-or any money-from the makers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. A California appeals court has upheld an earlier ruling against the dancer's claim that the character of Carl "C.J." Johnson, the game's protagonist, was based on him.
There was more to this than you might think, even if a $250 million demand is, shall we say, optimistic (and likely made to cause publisher Take-Two Interactive to seek a settlement without a trial.) Michael "Shagg" Washington, the plaintiff, met with developers in 2003 and discussed details of his past as a gang member in Los Santos Angeles. His photo ended up in Rockstar's files, and his name is listed as a model in the game's credits.
But connecting all that to C.J. himself was a bit of a stretch, according to a district judge, who was upheld on Wednesday by the state Court of Appeals. The original judge said Washington was relying solely on C.J.'s physical appearance in the game to make the connection. "[T]hat appearance is so generic that it necessarily includes hundreds of other black males." Unless Washington also transformed himself from a 112-pound rail into a 240-pound destroyer with a trapezius the size of a Thanksgiving turkey, in just two weeks at the Ganton Gym, I'd be inclined to agree with the judge.
Naturally, the appeals court had to cite Gwen Stefani's successful action against Activision for its use of her likeness in a manner she didn't consent to:
The No Doubt avatars…perform rock songs, the same activity by which the band achieved and maintains its fame…[Nothing in the video game] transform[s] the avatars into anything other than exact depictions of No Doubt's members doing exactly what they do as celebrities. Here, however, Washington has presented no evidence demonstrating that the plot or characters of GTA: San Andreas have any relevance to his life or his purported fame.
Singer's $250M Lawsuit Over ‘Grand Theft Auto' Fails [The Hollywood Reporter]
![GameStop's Former PR Chief Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Almost $2 Million [UPDATE]](http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/184bkwcm0dwdxjpg/original.jpg "GameStop's Former PR Chief Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Almost $2 Million [UPDATE]")
Chris Olivera, formerly the vice president of corporate communications for GameStop, pleaded guilty on Thursday to an embezzlement scheme that netted him $1.9 million over the course of two years.
Olivera, according to his guilty plea, set up a fake PR agency ("Cloud Communications") in Nevada, with a nonexistent person ("Jennifer Miller") as its boss, and proceeded to bill GameStop for work never performed, from July 2009 to April 2011.
GameStop officials began to suspect Olivera was cashing the checks, and got federal investigators involved, who quickly figured out they were indeed being deposited by a company Olivera had incorporated, and transferred into his personal account.
Olivera faces up to 20 years in federal prison on a single count of mail fraud. He's also looking at a $250,000 fine, presumably in addition to whatever money he has to pay back, if he can pay it back.
Kotaku has contacted GameStop for a statement. The entire guilty plea may be read at the link below.
UPDATE: A spokesperson told Kotaku that GameStop does not comment on matters still pending in court, but noted that "Mr. Olivera was terminated last year and GameStop has fully and completely cooperated with the government's investigation."
Former Gamestop VP Pleads Guilty to Stealing $2 Million from Company [Dallas Observer]
Bethesda dropped this image via its Twitter yesterday afternoon, telling everyone to expect full details on Monday. This is in all likelihood the reveal trailer for Dragonborn, the game's next round of DLC.
Unfortunately, pitchers my junior year did not lob gravel at me. I would have killed that. Despite being a completely useless skill, and counterproductive to actual hitting mechanics, this has continued to be a favorite pastime. I love any aspect of pretending to swing a bat without facing the dreadful public embarrassment of a swing and a miss. I thought that's what Home Run Stars, a Kinect game newly available on Xbox Live, intended to deliver, but here I'm still missing, even when there's nothing to hit.
It doesn't even come close. It has about the worst body recognition of any Kinect game I've played. See the video above. Apologies for the poor audio quality, but I think you can see the frustration burning through. Yes, sometimes I play dress up when I play sports video games. There is not a thing wrong with that either.
Your avatar's feet shift even when you're standing stock still. He holds the bat over the plate half the time, no matter how far back you are holding your hands (or, in my case, a broomhandle. But it doesn't matter if you're holding something or not). Sometimes the game will correct this and bring the bat back as the pitch is coming. Many times it will not, producing a rage-inducing swing-and-a-miss. I have calibrated and recalibrated my Kinect sensor, and it's the same every time.
But I can't stop playing it. I go back to this game like a bad relationship, thinking it'll be better, that I can change it. But the magic is gone.
Complaining about this on Twitter, a friend replied that he'd seen the pricetag ($5) and considered it a warning sign of the game's quality. Fair point, but this is the game's essential act, and it can't even do that properly. It raises a legitimate question of why Microsoft would still release something like this, which more damages the value proposition of the Kinect device it makes than deliver any fun. (There's also some sort of SmartGlass functionality for this, but I've yet to see it because Apple is dragging its feet on approving that app.)
I want this game to work, badly. Two-handing a lollipop like the Move controller, for MLB The Show's Home Run Derby, or the Wii remote in Wii Sports' baseball game (or 2K Sports Baseball Blast!) only reminds me that this is all a gimmick. I've never found either experience all that satisfying, and wrenched my left shoulder many times.
But playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, when I've stood with a pitching wedge in my hand, and managed to land my tee shot on the green at Augusta National's treacherous No. 16, I really did feel like I pulled off something worth bragging about. Sure, Home Run Stars is in no way a simulation of a real home-run hitting contest, but with that broomhandle in my hands, the times I've been able to crush a Perfect Hit, the feeling is the same.
The Tiger Woods developers integrated Kinect body-tracking this year but had to patch in support for swinging into the camera in a normal golfing posture (where you are looking at the fight of the ball on your follow through). This suggests the device (and its software) has trouble recognizing your limbs when you stand perpendicular to the sensor.
Still, the Tiger Woods guys got it right. Why didn't Home Run Stars? Maybe it's me. Maybe it's something in my living room. Maybe I should try swinging left-handed. I'll be right back, I'm gonna play this awful, no-fun game again.
What's happened in the business of video games this past week …
QUOTE | "PS3 has a great future ahead of it over the next few years."-John Koller, Sony VP, talking about the holiday season and future prospects for the PS3, as well as how it's a "marathon, not a sprint" for Vita.
QUOTE | "There is a deep and fundamental lack of professional ethics in the games media."-Rob Fahey, former editor of GamesIndustry.biz, talking about the pervasive influence of game companies on game journalists.
QUOTE | "If you looked at World of Tanks two years ago, when we launched, it looked like a piece of crap."-Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.com, talking about the progress they've made with their games.
QUOTE | "I just don't have any faith in Disney's ability to truly leverage The Force for hardcore gamers."-James Brightman, US Editor for GamesIndustry International, talking along with other journalists about what Disney's Lucasfilm acquisition might mean to gamers.
STAT | 67%-Percentage of the total time spent on tablets devoted to gaming, according to a study by Flurry; this compares to 39% of the time on smartphones. QUOTE | "Kinect is going to be something that everyone's going to want to own."-Matt Barlow, GM of product marketing for Xbox, talking about why the Xbox 360 is the best HD console now and into next year.
QUOTE | "The growth in social network gaming has slowed? That's like describing what just hit the East Coast as a ‘storm'."-Steve Peterson, West Coast Editor for GamesIndustry International, commenting onwhat EA said about social games during its latest earnings call with analysts.
QUOTE | "What they're implicitly saying is that they don't think that games should tackle taboo subjects."-Chris Delay, co-founder of Introversion, talking about critics of their new game Prison Architect.
QUOTE | "If I pitch a new idea to my Kickstarter fans and nobody wants to fund it, I'm glad I didn't make it."-Brian Fargo, CEO of InXile, talking about why he'll keep using Kickstarter even if Wasteland II is a big hit.
QUOTE | "As we speak we are planning to release also all the games we've taken from their servers for free."-Hacktivist group Anonymous, writing in broken English about their plan to attack Zynga, and somehow hurt them by giving away Zynga's already free games.
STAT | 1 million-Number of sales that THQ's Darksiders II has probably exceeded so far, according to analysts; unfortunately, the break-even threshold is 2 million units
STAT | 75%-Percentage of smartphones shipped in the third quarter that used the Android operating system; Apple's iOS was only 14.9% of the smartphones shipped, and Microsoft's Windows Phone was just 2%.
STAT | $9.7 million-Operating loss for Sega's games division last quarter on revenues of $445 million; this compares to a loss of $74.6 million last year, so things are getting better.
(Image from Shutterstock)
What are we calling it, is it Hurricane Sandy still? Technically that wasn't a hurricane when it started smashing into things and bringing down power and flooding out datacenters and spawning the Kotumblr and canceling a marathon. Hurricane Sandy, Superstorm Sandy, whatever, it can't bring a halt to the engines of video game commerce, and we're not going to let anyone pay full MSRP, or not get anything free with it, just because a storm brought down our site. Nearly 80 deals in all await you in The Moneysaver!
Software
• Nov. 6 release Halo 4 (360) for $59.99 comes with a $25 coupon from Microsoft Store and a $20 Gift Card from Dell. It's $47.99 after coupon from Newegg today and Sunday. Amazon has it for $59 and throws in a $10 instant video credit. GameStop only has a "frost" armor bonus. [Dealzon]
• Tuesday's release Assassin's Creed 3 (360, PS3) is $47.99 with coupon through Monday at NewEgg. Elsewhere $58 and up. [Dealzon]
• Tuesday's release Need for Speed Most Wanted 2012 (360, PS3, PC) for $59.99 comes with a $15 gift card and free shipping from Kmart, Saturday only. Next best is NewEgg for $49.99 after coupon, no bonus. Elsewhere $60. [Dealzon]
• Tuesday's release WWE ‘13 (360, PS3) is $49.99 plus $2.99 shipping from Fry's Electronics. Elsewhere $60. [Dealzon]
• Wednesday's release Painkiller: Hell & Damnation (PC download) is $15.99 from GameFly. List price is $20. [Dealzon]
• Thursday's release Cargo Commander (PC download) is $6 from Green Man Gaming. Next best is Steam for $8. [Dealzon]
• Thursday's release 007: Legends (PC download) is $35.99, free shipping from GameFly. Elsewhere $50. [Dealzon]
• Yesterday's release Football Manager 2013 (PC download) is $29.99 from Green Man Gaming. Elsewhere $40. [Dealzon]
• NewEgg offers $12 off all pre-order games priced $49.99 and up. Coupon ends Sunday. Several eligible November releases are listed below. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 6 release Saints Row: The Third - Full Package (360, PS3) is $37.99, free shipping from NewEgg. List price is $50. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 6 release History Legends of War: Patton (360, PS3) is $37.99, free shipping from NewEgg. List price is $50. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 6 release NASCAR The Game: Inside Line (PS3, 360) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg. List price is $60. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 6 release LittleBigPlanet: Karting (PS3) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg. List price is $60. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 6 release Mass Effect Trilogy (360, PS3, PC) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg. List price is $60. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 13 release Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (360, PS3, PC) plus $20 eGift Card is $59.99, free shipping from Dell Home. Next best is $47.99 with coupon at Newegg, but no discount or bonus elsewhere. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 13 release LEGO Lord of the Rings (360, PS3) is $37.99, free shipping from NewEgg. List price is $50. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 18 release Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (360, PS3, Wii) is $37.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $50. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 20 release Hitman: Absolution (360, PS3) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $59. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 20 release Playstation All Stars Battle Royale (PS3) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $60. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 20 release Of Orcs and Men (360, PS3) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg. List price is $60. [Dealzon]
• Nov. 23 release Assassin's Creed 3 (PC) is $37.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $48. [Dealzon]
• Dead Space 3 (360, PS3) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg. List price is $60. [Dealzon]
• Battlefield 3 Premium Edition (360, PS3, PC) is $39.99, free shipping from GameStop. Next best is $55. [Dealzon]
• Dirt Showdown (360, PS3) is $19.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $30. [Dealzon]
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (Vita) is $29.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $38. [Dealzon]
• This weekend Gamers Gate offers up to 75 percent off PC downloads of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell titles. Example: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction is $5.99, elsewhere $20. [Dealzon]
• Guild Wars 2 Digital Edition (PC download) is $43.50 from Green Man Gaming. Elsewhere $60. [Dealzon]
• Doom 3: BFG Edition (PC download) is $20.25 from Green Man Gaming. Elsewhere $30. [Dealzon]
• Dead Rising 2 (PC download) is $7.99, free shipping from GameFly. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]
• Max Payne 3: Hostage Negotiation Pack (PC DLC) is $7.50 from Green Man Gaming. List price is $10. [Dealzon]
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 (PC) is $6.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $14. [Dealzon]
• Warhammer 40k: Space Marine (PC Dowload) is $5.62 from Green Man Gaming. Next best is $30. [Dealzon]
• Tomb Raider Underworld (PC download) is $4.99 from Steam. Next best is $15. [Dealzon]
• Red Faction Armageddon (PC download) is $3.75, free shipping from Green Man Gaming. Next best is $9. [Dealzon]
• Hitman: Codename 47 (PC download) is $2.25 from Green Man Gaming. Next best is $10. [Dealzon]
Hardware
• Xbox 360 4GB Slim Console is $179.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $200. [Dealzon]
• Playstation Move Starter Bundle with eye camera, controller, and Just Dance 3 is $39.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $72. [Dealzon]
• Turtle Beach Ear Force Z1M Gaming Headset (Refurbished) is $9.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $22. [Dealzon]
• Corsair Vengeance 16GB laptop RAM, DDR3 1600 SO-DIMM is $67.49, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $100. [Dealzon]
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 2GB GDDR5 PCIe Video Card is $179.99 after rebate, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $232. [Dealzon]
• EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1GB GDDR5 PCIe Video Card is $84.99 after rebate, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $110. [Dealzon]
• Toshiba's 17-inch 1080p 3D Qosmio X875-Q7291 with Ivy Bridge Quad Core i7-3610QM, 16GB RAM, 750GB 7200RPM HDD plus 1TB HDD, 3GB GeForce GTX 670M, and Blu-ray is $1,499, free shipping from Microsoft Store. Listed for $1,899. [Dealzon]
• Lenovo Y480 with Ivy Bridge Core i7-3630QM, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT 650M 2GB, Windows 7 is $729, free shipping from Lenovo. That's lowest ever by $20. Or get same configuration with Windows 8 upgrade for $750. [Dealzon]
• Alienware X51 Desktop with Ivy Bridge Quad Core i7-3770, GeForce GTX 555, 1TB HDD, Blu-ray is $999, free shipping from Microsoft Store. Next best is $1,200. [Dealzon]
Digital Distribution
The following listing of digital download bargains are grouped by distributor. For more, see Deals4Downloads' roundup.
Amazon • Bulletstorm is $2.99, save 85 percent.
• Tomb Raider: Underworld is $4.99, save 83 percent.
• The Kings' Crusade is $5.54, save 72 percent.
• Supreme Commander 2 is $4.99, save 67 percent.
• Death to Spies: Moment of Truth is $10.11, save 66 percent.
Best Buy • Syndicate is $9.99, save 66 percent.
• Dragon Age 2 is $7.00, save 65 percent.
DotEmu
• Halloween Pack is $14.99, save 83 percent.
• Stronghold HD is $4.79, save 20 percent.
GameFly
• Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is $9.99, save 75 percent.
• Spec Ops: The Line is $14.99, save 50 percent.
• Sniper Elite V2 is $24.99, save 50 percent.
GamersGate
• Dead Space 2 is $4.99, save 75 percent.
• Penumbra Collection is $5.00, save 75 percent.
• FEAR Complete Pack is $7.50, save 75 percent.
• Dead Space Complete Pack is $9.99, save 75 percent.
• Dead Island is $7.48, save 50 percent.
• Dead Rising 2 is $9.99, save 50 percent.
Get Games
• Assassin's Creed 2 Deluxe Edition is $7.49, save 75 percent.
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Deluxe Edition is $7.49, save 75 percent.
GMG
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution is $7.49, save 75 percent.
• Red Faction Guerilla is $4.99, save 75 percent.
• Unstoppable Gorg is $2.49, save 75 percent.
GOG
• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is $2.39, save 60 percent.
• Starflight 1+2 is $2.39, save 60 percent.
• Theme Hospital is $2.39, save 60 percent.
• Wing Commander 1+2 is $2.39, save 60 percent.
iTunes Store
• Infinity Blade (iPhone) is $0.99, save 83 percent.
• Galaxy on Fire 2 HD (iPhone) is $0.99, save 80 percent.
• Rebuild (iPhone) is $0.99, save 67 percent.
Mac App Store
• Paranormal Agency (Mac) is $1.99, save 72 percent.
• Flychaser (Mac) is $0.99, save 67 percent.
Steam
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is $9.99, save 33 percent plus Free Weekend
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary is $2.49, save 75 percent.
• Tomb Raider: Legend is $2.49, save 75 percent.
Kotaku thanks our coupon partners for providing these and other great deals. Be sure to bookmark and search their Kotaku hashtags (#dealzon, #deals4downloads and #dealtaku) for updates throughout the week. Further, to our friends across the pond and north of the border, check the #ukdeals, #europedeals and #canadadeals hashtags and be sure to flag any deals you might have with that.
As always, smart gamers can find values any day of the week, so if you've run across a deal, share it with us in the comments.
Welcome to The Best of Kotak…Kotumblr! Our temporary digs while we wait for our sites to turn back up.
That's right, Hurricane Sandy. Flood our servers, take down our sites, strip us from power and chase the NYC writers out of our city, and we'll still be posting great content. In your face, storm! Video games! Yeah!
Unfortunately we don't have a Best Comment From The Community, but we do have an amazing image from our favorite deviantARTist, Patrick Brown. Kudos yet again, you magnificent bastard. That should give you something to stare at pleasantly this Saturday morning.
On that note, let's move on to the good stuff.
My Insane Hurricane Sandy Video, As Seen on The Weather Channel
Need For Speed: Most Wanted: The Kotaku Review
Assassin's Creed III: The Kotaku Review
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation: The Kotaku Review
Damn, Guys…You Are Sporting Some Impressive Halloween Costumes
The Scariest Game I Have Ever Played
I'm Surprised By How "Black" Assassin's Creed Liberation Feels
How It Feels To Review Halo 4 On Microsoft's Turf
Your Favorite Video Game Characters Review Their Favorite Games
Blacked-out Developers to a Guy Who Walked 3 Hours To Line-Wait for Wii U
Here's The Difference The Day One Patch Made to Assassin's Creed III
Assassin's Creed? Halo? Screw'em, I'm Playing Persona
Wreck-It-Ralph is, without question, one of the most highly anticipated video game movies ever produced. It had a shot at being the best one ever. The reasons are obvious and numerous.
For starters, it's a product of Walt Disney Animation Studios, whose animation pedigree is without question. Then you have John Lasseter as executive producer. He helped to form Pixar, Disney's only true competition and is now its chief creative officer. Together they have created offerings that put similar efforts from competing studios like Dreamworks Animation to shame.
In addition to Lasseter (whose list of credits includes Toy Story), you also have Rich Moore as director. He's not exactly a household name, unless you're a Simpsons and Futurama fanboy, since he oversaw some of their best episodes.
Next is the voice talent: the star of the show is John C. Reilly, beloved by serious critics and fans of lowbrow comedy alike who is supported by Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, and Alan Tudyk.
It is exceptionally rare to have so many powerful and talented forces behind a video game movie. And that's before we address the very concept, which can be best described as "Toy Story, but with video games." Clearly, Wreck-It-Ralph must be pure gold on every conceivable level, right?
Well, it's certainly good. Excellent even. But it's not necessarily perfect. Not because of any concrete stumbles. It had the chance to be brilliant, and unfortunately, chooses not to take those steps.
Warning: Minor spoilers ahead.
Wreck-It-Ralph is the antagonist of Fix-It Felix Jr, an old school arcade game that pays homage to the original Donkey Kong; Ralph terrorizes tenants of an apartment building by-what else?- wrecking it. And the player, as Fix-It Felix Jr, must fix the damage. The rules of the movie's universe are established early on: everyone within the game is essentially an actor who is on call whenever someone puts a quarter into their machine.
The game resides in an arcade, where it's been for many years now. It's hung in there. When the arcade is closed for business, everyone relaxes and mingles about, much like real actors. The bulk of the movie takes place "behind the screen" and has Ralph interacting with other characters, often from other games. They all gather in a central hub, or sometimes they'll hang out in other video game environments.
Almost everyone has a clearly defined role. The problem is that Ralph doesn't like his. He's grown tired of being the bad guy and wants to be a good one for once. Even though it's just a role, virtually everyone assumes he's a brutish jerk and treats him as such. The situation is exacerbated when he discovers that he was not invited to a party that is being thrown to honor Felix's 30 years of service. He decides to crash the shindig, but in the nicest way possible. That plan backfires immediately.
Whenever the player in the real world is able to clear a level, Felix gets a medal. So Ralph comes to the realization that if he had his own medal, he would be deemed a hero and would no longer be viewed with such disdain. As a result, Ralph decides to sneak into another title called Hero's Duty, a light gun game that borrows heavily from Gears of War. The thing is, he does this during business hours, which is a real no-no, and this causes a ripple effect of problems but also introduces him to Vanellope, a young girl character who is an outcast, because she's glitched. As things go bad, his own game gets put out of service, which is basically the end of the world for its denizens. Felix goes looking for Ralph and we wind up with a small band of gaming characters on an adventure.
In the end, Wreck-It-Ralph is your classic Disney tale of characters discovering their true selves and overcoming adversity. That's excellent for a family flick, something that Disney excels at. But many gamers are going to be approaching the movie with expectations for the depth of subtext that was found in Toy Story or the cartoon-character mash-up Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.
And it's true: Wreck-It-Ralph offers a fascinating look behind the video game world, one that can only be orchestrated by someone as big and powerful as Disney. As in, only they could get so many powerful forces, including direct competitors, to share the stage each other. A large part of what made Roger Rabbit so memorable was the excitement from seeing Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny do a scene together. And while there are plenty of cameos in Wreck-It-Ralph, it doesn't quite offer that "wow" moment that many are expecting.
Unfortunately, there really aren't that many cameos. People expecting to be inundated with fan service will be disappointed. The movie's advertising pushed really hard the notion that there would be famous characters all over the place, and that's not the case. Ralph spends most of his time in three fictional game environments: his own and the other two that he crashes. Other characters get involved in the proceedings for sure, but purely to help things along. Heck, the most surprising thing is the over-abundance of real world junk food reference in the movie's made-up game Sugar Rush. That's where you get all the famous snack cameos. That and the inexplicable appearance of Skrillex, whom you REALLY have to look out for.
There's also a certain degree of inconsistency to the movie's universe, one that only the most critical and hardcore of gamers might pick up (that means you, fine readers of Kotaku). For the most part, Disney's original game characters are intermingling with actual ones, and it generally works, but in other instances it doesn't. Consider the very first scene, when Ralph is in a support group for other bad guys. It's cool seeing M. Bison and Eggman in the same room. The problem is that they're right next to someone who clearly is supposed to be Kano from Mortal Kombat but isn't. It's a bit jarring. Couldn't the writers come up with another gag that wouldn't need a MK-esque character?
There are plenty of things that the movies does right in exploring a world of game characters. The movie touches upon the politics of what it means to be a video game character, which is fascinating. Ever wonder what exactly your faceless character in certain first person shooter/light gun games looks like? It's addressed here, and it's frankly awesome.
The problem is that Wreck-It-Ralph just doesn't go far enough to explore its territory or stretch beyond it. What made both Toy Story and Roger Rabbit magical was the interplay between their richly-defined fictional universes and their movies' version of the real world. That's not to say that the people are totally non-factors here, but they definitely do not play the role that it perhaps should have.
The animation is gorgeous, the writing is sharp, and the acting is mostly spot on. Wreck-It-Ralph is how it handles the subject matter with respect, which is appreciated. As anyone familiar with the genre of video game cinema can attest, one gets the impression that 99% of the time, the people behind the camera simply do not get what they're talking about. Not here.
Wreck-It-Ralph is a superb family flick, but it is still a bit of a failure, sadly, because it chooses not to dip deep into the video game waters its treads. That's a real shame, because Wreck-It-Ralph is such a golden opportunity that only an entity like Disney could orchestrate in the first place.
Check out this rad Mass Effect 3 print by Courtney Billadeau, now available for preorder from the Bioware store here. It's called "No One Left Behind."
Click to enlarge
