Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade - Doubts and Concerns

Greetings all.

It seems the Dark Gods have more 40k joy in store for us. However pleased I was at the news of another attempt at a 40k MMO (I still think Dark Crusade would have been good) I do have quite a few doubts and concerns about this project. Most of which are centered around the studio who will be developing the game.

Eternal Crusade will be brought to us by the folks at Behaviour Interactive. Many folk will be forgiven for not knowing who they are of course. While they have quite a few games under their belt, none of the titles I am personally familiar with are all that great (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Wet, etc.). with only one or two (Dante's Inferno) being ones I have played and found rather enjoyable.

The four faction choices we can pick from (Chaos, Space Marines, Orks and Eldar) are sensible for the first picks. We have yet to learn though which Chaos Space Marines (and Loyalist of course) will be playable. Personally I am hoping it will not be limited to just one Legion or Chapter per side; customization would be nice.

Some of the stated goals for the project are rather ambitious. Each player getting their own ship, guilds being able to bombard planets, player-controlled quest generation, dynamic & hazardous weather, etc. A pretty tall older; especially for folks who have been burned by the two previous Warhammer MMOs (Warhammer: Age of Reckoning and the aborted Dark Millennium).

Other than some hopes and promises, we have nothing else solid yet. Only some concept art, and some voice samples. Meatier discussion on this IP will come in time of course, but information as of this post is thin. Personally I think it would have been wise to wait to announce the game till there was more concrete info & something to show off. We will have to wait and see.

Speaking of waiting, a 2015 release date for the game seems pretty close. This leads me to believe that the game has already been in development for a while (6-12 months perhaps) but I could be quite mistaken.

Dark Millennium to be at E3 2011

As various sites have reported, Vigil's Dark Millennium MMO will make an apperance this year at E3. It has been so long since there was any news of this project, that I just had to stop thinking about it and paying attention for a while, lets I get burned out. I really hope something good is in store for us at E3 this year.

Interestingly enough, at least two other 40k games will also be getting some attention as well. Space Marine (of course!) as well as the more recently revealed Kill Team. They all look to be fun games. Hopefully these properties are managed well so that a new golden age of 40k gaming can begin!

Of course if Dark Millennium is bungled as badly as WAR was... well expect a lot of Internet rage.

Sucker Punch: Initial Impressions

It has been quite a while since I have seen a movie that left me feeling so conflicted afterwards. Some arts of Sucker Punch I absolutely loved, other parts I thought were awful. In brief the movie had great cinematography, wonderful acting, great sound & special effects and so forth. As with all things my opinions and this little review of Sucker Punch will be horribly biased. Spoilers also may roam freely, you have been warned.

One of the things I really despised about the movie was Babydoll as portrayed by Emily Browning. No problem with the actress herself, but this was a character I could not like. As would be revealed later int he movie, Babydoll was not really meant to be the 'main character' per se, but rather a vehicle to help move the plot along. It may have been intentional thus that her character was so flat and lifeless in the movie; such that she could serve as a form of living furniture in essence for the other characters to be developed around.

I am certainly very fond of the two layers of pseudo-reality that existed within the movie. My only complaint here is that we do not know how certain actions (like the girls getting shot & killed) would be translated to in the outer layer. Perhaps they did die, perhaps some of them just got put in something akin to solitary... we don't really know for certain.

Absolutely loved the Rifts (not the MMO, the Paladium Games RPG) feel I got from the 2nd layer of pseudo-reality in the film. Also gave me a very strong 40k vibe as well. Good stuff that. Makes me hopeful that someone will eventually make a big budget 40k movie at some point. Perhaps something centered around the Imperial Guard or based on a novel series like Guant's Ghosts.

This is a hard movie to try and recommend to anyone. I still don't know myself whether I like it or hate it... all I know is that I will be thinking about it for a month perhaps. While a very well-made movie, it is hard to know if it will have lasting appeal or not. At least for the moment, I do not feel it was quite as good as either 300 or Watchmen.

Still more than willing to see other movies made by Zack Snyder. Hopefully he handles Superman well.