The Mount and Blade series is a different kind of medieval RPG. Note that I said medieval as opposed to fantasy, because unlike games like Skryim and Dragon Age, there aren’t any dragons, wizards, magic, or demons. It’s just you, your army, and thousands of miles of a land torn in strife. Turkish developer TaleWords has developed a true sandbox style game, as you are free to approach it anyway you wish without the experience being structured by a plot. You can gather an army, purchase land for business development, participate in large-scale combat, and even marry into royalty. Warband is the standalone expansion to the original Mount and Blade, meaning that you don’t have to own the original in order to enjoy everything Warband has to offer. Warband improves on the original game with numerous additions, the most significant of which being multiplayer.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Ian Abercrombie, who appeared in such shows as Seinfeld and Wizards of Waverly Place as well as movies like Army of Darkness, died of a heart attack on Thursday at the age of 77.

Our readers probably known him best as Mr. Pitt, Elaine’s eccentric and demanding boss from Seinfeld. One of this more notable gags had him keeping her late at work to pick out the perfect sock.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

A decade after Peter Jackson first took us into the world of Tolkien, we now have a look at the original story that began The Lord Of The Rings.

Will this be a worth addition to one of the most celebrated film series of this generation? Does Peter Jackson’s return to Middle Earth mean he’s recovered from missteps like King Kong and The Lovely Bones?
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Check out this trailer for “The Secret World of Arrietty”, a new movie which is coming to North America in February 2012. The film is by Studio Ghibli and the screenplay is written by Hayao Miyazaki, director of good movies like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Laputa: Castle in the Sky and bad movies like Ponyo.

The dub will star David Henrie and Bridgit Mendler, who play on again, off again couple Justin and Juliet in the Wizards of Waverly Place. It’s not easy being in love when one of you is a Wizard and the other is a Vampire who turned old after being bit by a Werewolf and then being young again. There are actually 2 dubs, the British version stars Saoirse Ronan, from Hanna and Tom Holland, from nothing I’ve ever heard of.

Keep reading to watch the intro to the Littles, the inspiration for this film:

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Happy Halloween, Poweteers! This week sees the release of Sonic Generations, Uncharted 3 and Lord of the Rings: War in the North. If you are interested in these or any other releases shown after the jump, please follow the links provided before adding it to your cart. This helps the site out big time!

[Read the rest of this entry…]

It’s one thing to try to translate a video game plot and characters into a movie, but movies that are about the culture of video gaming, the people who play them, and what it’s like to be stuck in one are an altogether different animal. Many such movies were released in the 1980s, coincidentally around the same time as the video game crash that threatened to destroy this nascent industry forever. Vinnk and SeanOrange reminisce about Scott Pilgrim, TRON, The Wizard, The Last Starfigher, Cloak and Dagger, and War Games: when we saw them, what kind of impact they had, and if we’ll ever see their like again. And, look — most of them had better reviews than movies adapted from actual video games!

Direct Link: Famicom Dojo Podcast 11: Movies About Video Games

Check out trailers for all the films we talked about, and their RottenTomatoes.com scores at our show notes:
http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/11

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Hoard is an example of why a game doesn’t necessarily have to have complex graphics or gameplay to be fun. In Hoard, you control a dragon, and your job is to cause as much chaos as you can while building a stockpile of gold. You steal treasure, kidnap princesses for ransom, burn down buildings, and scare villages into offering tribute. Of course you’ll have to deal with wizards, knights, thieves, and other dragons. Up to 4 players can participate in either co-op or competitive modes. While the game is simple enough to get into, the gameplay mechanics are deep, and as you progress, strategy and planning become important. You can upgrade your dragon’s abilities, and the upgrades you choose also fit into your strategy. Hoard may not be Call of Duty, but at least it’s good for a quick fix. And really, who doesn’t want to be a badass dragon?

A few days ago Posh Spice and her soccer playing husband had a kid, and this is apparently very important. The girl was named “Harper Seven Beckham”, a name which some report was inspired by the character Harper Finkle from the hit TV series “Wizards of Waverly Place“. The name was supposedly chosen by Harper’s older brothers who are big fans of the show. Other potential names for the girl were Alex, Russo and selena<3justin4everXOXOXO but they went with Harper because it "sounded trendier".

Many assume the girl’s middle name, “Seven” is based on the number of David Beckham’s soccer shirt. I was unable to verify this, because the Internet does not offer any pictures of David Beckham actually wearing a shirt. The true story is surely more interesting, as Seven is clearly a reference to the short lived character named Seven from the 7th season of “Married With Children”. I heard some British people say that David Beckham used to play football, so his interest in the show must derive from how impressed he is with Al Bundy scoring 4 touchdowns in a single game. Here’s hoping that the inevitable baby #5 will be named Buck Polk Beckham.