That’s right, you can grab yourself a copy of The Human Centipede just in time for Halloween! The highly demented horror movie phenomenon goes on sale on DVD and Blu-Ray on October 5th with plenty of bonus features and behind the scenes footage.

Never heard of The Human Centipede?? Well, check out the trailer then decide if you can stomach this year’s horror movie sensation from Dutch director Tom Six.

DVD and Blu-Ray Extras include:
Deleted Scenes
Behind The Scenes footage
An interview with Tom Six
Casting
Foley Session
Feature-length documentary with Tom Six

Doesn’t look like there is a lot going on in the way of movies this month that I am interested in. The only movie that is a MUST SEE  for me is, of course, Machete! September is Machete month.

Friday September 3rd Machete

Machete started out as a “fake” trailer as part of the 2007 Grindhouse double-feature. Now it’s become a full feature film written and directed  by Robert Rodriguez. It follows former Mexican Federale, Machete (Danny Trejo) as a renegade who winds up in Texas Machete following a shakedown with a feared drug lord Torrez (Steven Segal). In Texas, Machete is given the opportunity to make some quick dough by assassinating a Senator (played by Robert Deniro) and he soon discovers the whole plan was a setup. With the aid of a gun slinging holy man (Cheech Marin), the equally armed April (Lindsey Lohan) and “taco queen” Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), Machete goes full force with his revenge against those that set him up and anyone who stands in his way.

Trailer

As for other movies.. Well, you can also watch Ryan Reynolds be buried under ground for 94 minutes in Buried or you can see George Clooney be an assasin in the suspense thriller, The American.

You can’t really talk about King’s Bounty without saying something about Heroes of Might and Magic. I loved the crap out of that game (shame it went downhill after the third one) and never thought I would find anything that could take its place or, dare I say, surpass it. While King’s Bounty has a lot in common with Heroes, it also does a lot to stand out on its own and often above the other strategy role playing titles out there.

A typical view of the battlefield, wonder who draws those hexes...

The game is played in a real time world map, with you moving your hero about the islands of the world with no turn based limitations. You explore, find quests, meet monsters, collect treasure and navigate the high seas in full 3D, with an option to pause the world if things get too real for you. When you encounter a band of monsters, you switch to the 3D turn based combat field, with the standard hex format battle markers and movement. Tactics are important, but numbers often win these battles as you move your troops around obstacles and towards their targets. You as the hero never lower yourself to join in combat, but your spell book allows you to help out while you tell the troops what to do.

Gone from Heroes is the tedious week based resource gathering and castle maintaining, you simple earn money as you go along and resources have been reduced to leveling up your hero. You have a cap on your monsters, based on your leadership. The higher it is, the more you can command. You can also invest your experience and collected runes into upgrading your hero, from three different character paths with multiple skill trees. The role playing experience is really beefed up in this over Heroes.

Quests often provide multiple dialog and options (which can usually be skipped)

The game doesn’t really challenge anything, but it is quite refined and solid entertainment. You can easily find yourself spending more time than you expected playing it. If you are new to the genre, this is a good place to start because the Crossworlds collection comes with all previously released Kings Bounty expansions and missions. You can buy a cheaper stand alone version that has only the new content and people who own King’s Bounty: Armored Princess can purchase an upgrade for about $20 that gives you everything as well.

Oh sure, he gets to wear a full suit of armor

Another exciting addition to the game is the level editor that allows you to change everything about the game and craft your own quests! The community for this game is pretty active even before this was released, so expect to see some amazing free add-ons to this ti
tle from the fans!

I still don't think that is viable armor

King’s Bounty: Crossworlds is well worth the money and is one of the few titles available to fans of this genre. It’s time to put that old copy of Heroes away and move on to the hot newness. The Russian developers of this title put a lot of heart and love into this title and it shows, aside from a few minor spelling errors, this is a quality product that blends humor, strategy and fun in the right amounts to provide a gaming experience like no other.

Check out the website King’s Bounty to learn more and to order this title online, when it releases on the 17^th of September.

My hopes of this game being a Borderlands style shooter with tons of weapons or a CSI game looking for “evidence” in a seedy hotel room with an actual black light had been quickly crushed when I loaded up this new first person shooter from developer Zombie Studios. I had read the announcement of it as “hundreds of weapons” and got all excited since I have been playing Borderlands online with friends non stop. So I thought maybe this was a modern day version of that.

Boy, was I wrong. This title is actually a solid online multiplayer title that offers fans of Counter-Strike and Call of Duty a lot of action. I however suck at all forms of online combat and reduce myself to lowly support classes and co-op missions. This is not the game for me. I tried the single player mode and found it was really just a place holder for the online. Then I tried the co-op and while it was fully featured, fighting against the AI with friends is a bit boring and repetitive. So I almost quit in frustration, not sure I could review this title fairly.

That is, until I called up my cousin Nick. He is a strapping 19 year old male trying to enroll in the army (he was just accepted actually) and loves to play Call of Duty and Halo. He is a FPS junkie. Ever since the days of his youth when he would toddler over and grab a N64 controller to play Goldeneye with us, he enjoyed them. Of course he was shit back then at Goldeneye, we would even let him be OddJob and I’d still wipe the floor with him. But he seems to have gotten better at online killing while I in my old man advanced age have grown soft and weak. So I invited him over to play this game while I drank and worked on my Farmville farm. Here are some of his thoughts on the title

“Why am I playing Simon Says to open a door? This is stupid”. Then he quit single player and went online. “I like the guns” he said as he was looking over the inventory and buying weapons before the round started. The first few rounds involved him and other gamers calling each other racial and homophobic slurs, with him getting quite angry. Turns out there is an experience point system that allows you to have better weapons than other players, but this just forced him to play more and get better so he could unlock better weapons and “fuck your gay ass up”. Confused sexuality aside, he seemed to be enjoying the title and had no problems finding players, even a few weeks after the release of the title. That alone is impressive for an Xbox Live title, seems everyone plays a game for a week then crawls back to Madden, Halo and Call of Duty.

The game has slick graphics, super quick combat and seems to instantly throw you into an online match when you load it up. This makes it great for quick mindless matches. You can also use an assortment of items and gadgets that let you see through walls “lol wall hacks” and employ counter tactics with ease. The game is pure online combat, cheap and fast. It’s a good Xbox Live title, but I could see how it would fall flat as a full retail game. If you enjoy shooting strangers in the face and get bored of the maps in Call of Duty, get this. Heck, don’t they sell map packs for Call of Duty for nearly the same price as this title? Expand your horizons a bit here, kill new people with Blacklight: Tango Down for Xbox Live Arcade.

Blacklight: Tango Down is now available for Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 MS points ($15)

Until recently, the only way most fans of The Walking Dead comics could get a glimpse of the upcoming TV series on AMC was at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Now AMC has released the trailer in all it’s glory!

Rockband 3 has announced their full song list! This new version of Rockband will introduce keyboards to the line up! The best part is the keyboard can easily be turned into a keytar! Get ready to tear up the tracks this holiday season! Click on the song titles to be whisked away to the Youtube video (when available).

2000s:
Amy Winehouse, “Rehab”
At the Drive-In, “One Armed Scissor”
Avenged Sevenfold, “The Beast & the Harlot”
Dover, “King George”
The Bronx, “False Alarm”
The Flaming Lips, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1”
HIM (His Infernal Majesty), “Killing Loneliness”
Hypernova, “Viva La Resistance”
Ida Maria, “Oh My God”*
Juanes, “Me Enamora”
Metric, “Combat Baby”*
Paramore, “Misery Business”*
Phoenix, “Lasso”*
Poni Hoax, “Antibodies”
Pretty Girls Make Graves, “Something Bigger, Something Brighter”
Queens of the Stone Age, “No One Knows”
The Ravonettes, “Last Dance”
Rilo Kiley, “Portions for Foxes”*
Riverboat Gamblers, “Don’t Bury Me…I’m Still Not Dead”
Slipknot, “Before I Forget”
The Sounds, “Living in America”
Tegan & Sara, “The Con”
Them Crooked Vultures, “Dead End Friends”
Tokio Hotel, “Humanoid”*
The Vines, “Get Free”*
The White Stripes, “The Hardest Button to Button”*

1990s:

Faith No More, “Midlife Crisis”*
Filter, “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
Jane’s Addiction, “Been Caught Stealing”*
Maná, “Oye Mi Amor”
Marilyn Manson, “The Beautiful People”
The Muffs, “Outer Space”
Phish, “Llama”
Primus, “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver”
Rammstein, “Du Hast”
Smash Mouth, “Walkin’ On The Sun”*
Spacehog, “In the Meantime”
Stone Temple Pilots, “Plush”
Swingin’ Utters, “This Bastard’s Life”

1980s:

Anthrax, “Caught in a Mosh”
Big Country, “In a Big Country”
The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”*
Def Leppard, “Foolin’”
Devo, “Whip It”
Dio, “Rainbow in the Dark”
Dire Straits, “Walk of Life”
Echo & the Bunnymen, “The Killing Moon”
Huey Lewis and the News, “The Power of Love”
INXS, “Need You Tonight”*
J. Geils Band, “Centerfold”
Joan Jett, “I Love Rock N’ Roll”*
Night Ranger, “Sister Christian”*
Ozzy Osbourne, “Crazy Train”*
The Police, “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”
Roxette, “The Look”*
The Smiths, “Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”
Tears for Fears, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
Whitesnake, “Here I Go Again”*

1970s:

The B-52’s, “Rock Lobster”*
Blondie, “Heart of Glass”
Bob Marley, “Get Up, Stand Up”
Chicago, “25 or 6 to 4”
Deep Purple, “Smoke on the Water”
Doobie Brothers, “China Grove”*
Elton John, “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”
Foreigner, “Cold As Ice”*
Golden Earring, “Radar Love”
John Lennon, “Imagine”
Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Free Bird”
Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”*
Ramones, “I Wanna Be Sedated”
Steve Miller Band, “Fly Like an Eagle”
T. Rex, “20th Century Boy”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “I Need to Know”
War, “Low Rider”
Warren Zevon, “Werewolves of London”
Yes, “Roundabout”*

1960s:

Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations (Live)”
David Bowie, “Space Oddity”
The Doors, “Break on Through (To the Other Side)”*
James Brown, “I Got You” (I Feel Good) – Alternate Studio Version
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Crosstown Traffic”*
The Who, “I Can See for Miles”

*Songs with this icon are available on Rock Band 3 for Nintendo DS (the rest are not on DS)

I was a little late on grabbing DeathSpank until I heard it was made by Monkey Island co-creator Ron Gilbert. Then it all sort of made sense. The game is a parody of Diablo like adventure games, an over the top take on collecting loot and hacking and slashing enemies with a hero that reminds me a lot of the Tick. Our dense hero is on an epic quest to right all wrongs and slay evil. An annoying woman tells him to quest for an Artifact and with that, he is off! The quests don’t make sense, yet everything is perfectly acceptable in this upside down adventure world. Anyone who has played any “serious” role playing games will find humor in the genre mocking itself, while providing a very solid gaming experience.

You run around a story book world that is seamless (no loading screens) and complete a majority of quests that include standard fetch quests, kill somebody quests and the welcomed solve puzzles using items, the world and your heroic noggin quests. One quest requires you to replace a cog, but the only thing you find is a wooden ship wheel, which DeathSpank notes would look just like a cog if you could remove the wood. You must then find something in the world that eats wood to solve the quest. If you get really stuck, you can always use a fortune cookie to get help. The quest are varied and like the fully voice dialog, often very funny.

In between talking to people and solving problems is the core of the game, the real time combat. With a weapon assigned to each main button, you can easily mash, bash, slice, shoot and stab the enemies and chickens of the world. Some weapons (marked in purple) have special powers that you can activate when your “justice meter” is filled. You can find hundreds of weapons and items to use and even more when you count armor sets, trinkets and rings to boost your stats. The game is vastly simplified (often to increase fun) and allows you to automatically equip the best armor, quickly assign items to the directional pad and “grind” items up for gold when you are running out of space. DeathSpank actually does a lot right when it comes to action RPG gaming, but it also does a few things wrong.

The lack of a real co-op mode is pointed out oddly by the inclusion of a co-op mode that allows a second (local only) player to play as a strange wizard looking dude. He has a name, but they didn’t bother to give him an inventory or even a health bar, so I didn’t bother to remember it. He’s basically Tails in Sonic 2, give him to your girlfriend or little brother and hope they don’t notice he doesn’t actually do anything. The game also has a strange issue with the auto-aim and precision combat. I found myself aiming at treasure chests and not targeting enemies near me when I wanted to. The manual aim helps, but often a swarm is hard to navigate (and see, the screen gets really busy/dark at times) and you end up having to unselect the dangerous sign post and go back to killing the mob.

That said, this title is an amazing breath of fresh air and completely worth the 1200 points (14.99 on PSN). In a rather EA like move, the sequel was planned during the first title, and will be releasing next month. I would be rather upset, but the first title was a good solid length that is fun and the sequel promises to add even more adventure, comedy any mad loot.

Tuesday night at the Key Club Hollywood, The Birthday Massacre opened up for the heavy metal band Otep. I was a little skeptical about the reception that the synthrock band would get among a crowd of heavy metal and death metal fans, but it turned out to be a welcomed one. They were a nice break between the eardrum piercing double bass and the heavy growls of metal singers.

Alissa White-Gluz of The Agonist

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of metal. Bands of that genre seem to routinely fit into the “It All Sounds the Same to Me” file in my brain and the first opening bands weren’t proving to be any different. Now I think I am starting to see the light as I was very impressed by The Agonist who came out just before TBM. They had a lot of their fans there to show support and turned some of my friends into instant fans as their set progressed. Some of their power to draw a crowd comes from the amazing vocals of Alissa White-Gluz and of course from her gorgeous looks.

Rainbow and Owen of The Birthday Massacre

The Birthday Massacre soon made their way to the stage and brought with them a few new songs to play from their upcoming album, Pins and Needles. Of course they played their popular songs like “Happy Birthday” and “The Dream”. I always find it a spectacle to see a band make full use of the stage as TBM does… dancing and jumping around without missing a beat and when all is done, they still take time to mingle with their fans who are equally worn out. Already anticipating their return and possibly a trip to Vegas where they will be playing in the fall.

There was a long break before Otep came out and when they did,  front woman Shamaya demanded a West Coast circle pit. Their set was engaging, energetic and political. They bring a little something extra to the table with their unique mixture of metal, poetry and spoken word. It was a bittersweet ending as they played their final song of the night and of the tour. Definitely a great show to end a tour with!

Light up that cigarette and turn on the radio because it’s time for The Thrilling Adventure Hour! The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a comedy show at the Largo in Los Angeles. It’s in the style of old-time 1940’s era radio, to prove to everyone that radio is still the king of all media. The show is held once every month. Each Show consisting of 3 segments, and messages from the “sponsors” like Work Juice and Patriot Brand Cigarettes.

The show was created by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker. They have been doing the show since March of 2005. The best part of T.A.H is that every month is a new show, not just the same thing month after month. They keep it fresh and new. By doing this, a lot of people (me included) have become regulars. This also gives them the opportunity to have guest actors come by and perform with the regular cast. Just to Name a few guests: Nathan Fillion, Rider Strong, Martin Starr, Busy Philips, Linda Cardellini, Amber Benson, Adam Busch, and so many more.

The 3 segments of the night I attended were Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars, Amelia Earhart: Fearless Flyer, and Beyond Belief.. Sparks played by Marc Evan Jackson who is a lawman sent from earth to stop the outlaws on mars, with his Martian sidekick Croach the Tracker (Mark Gagliardi) The guest stars for this episode was Ed Helms (The Office, Hangover) Carlos Alazraqui (Reno 911) and Chris Hardwick (G4 Webs soup, MTV Singled Out) Carlos, Chris and Ed are hilarious guys which made this already great segment, even better. I was a little disappointed when we didn’t get a chance to hear Ed Sing a song. Helms singing makes everything better.

Amelia Earhart, Fearless Flier, is a twist in American history. She faked her death and took part of the American Victory Commission. Amelia is played by Autumn Reeser (The OC, Raising the Bar and No Ordinary family). Reesers, plays a incredible Amelia Earhart, and the comedy of James Urbaniak as the Red Baron was brilliant. The guest star was Adam Busch (Buffy, Point Pleasant, Drones) who played Lindbergh excellently.

The last skit of the night was Beyond Belief. It revolves around a high class couple Frank and Sadie Doyle who see ghosts. This martini guzzling duo solves super natural disturbances the easiest way they know how; by letting the clients do all of the work. The guest star for this was Matthew Gray Gubler (500 Days of Summer, Criminal Minds) playing Father Timothy in a con involving an exorcism.

I strongly recommend going to these shows held at the Largo in Los Angeles. I have been going since May and will continue going. There next guest (9/10/10) are Wil Wheaton, Tom Lenk, Yuri Lowenthal and some surprise guest as always. This very unique gem of a show is something you don’t want to miss. Every seat in that theater is great. I sat in the back once & still had a great view & a good time, but if you’re like me and want to be in the first 5 rows. I do recommend getting advance tickets and getting there by 6:30pm for good seats. Just be ready to sit back and let the laugh riot begin.

If you missed your chance to grab a copy of True Blood #1 at San Diego Comic-Con or at comic-retailers, you can now pick up a copy August 25th! True Blood #1 boasted a print run of over 53,000 copies, sold through comic stores and other outlets, and offered multiple covers. All copies quickly sold out but HBO and IDW publishing have announced a second printing, which is available August 25th at retailers around the country.

The comic series still has the same sexy vibe as the television show, following the telepathic Sookie Stackhouse, vampire Bill Compton and the rest of the gang on new and exciting story lines. #1 starts with the characters all gathered at Merlotte’s bar like any typical night except this night they are taking cover and waiting out a vicious storm. Suddenly a strange force takes hold of the patrons and their emotions and ends up killing some off one by one.

The series was developed by Alan Ball, the show’s Oscar and Emmy award winning director along with  top tier artist David Messina,  series writers Elisabeth Finch and Kate Barnow, and co-written by David Tischman and Mariah Huehner.

True Blood #1 (of 6, 2nd printing, 32 pages, full color, $3.99) will be available in stores on August 25th. Diamond order code JUN10 8172.

True Blood #2 (of 6, 32 pages, full color, $3.99) will be available in stores on August 18th. Diamond order code JUN10 0313.