Duke Nukem Forever by 2K Games

Recently I was lucky enough to take part in the Gearbox release of Duke Nukem Forever. I remember this being the first computer game that I played as a young 8 year old gal. My Dad’s best friend had it on his IMB/PC , and each time we paid him a visit I would beg for him to let me get my game on. This assembly of my body and his computer convened regularly till I was 11.

It was no surprise to me that a new Duke Nukem was coming out this year. I was excited, thrilled and quivered with anticipation at the fact I’d get to be holding my stick hailing to the “King???, once again, but in 3D!!

I agree with those who say that the palpability that DNF actually made it to my local game store is an attestation of the industry’s insistence. I’m all about games in 3D, assuming they’re done in the style I can enjoy. Well, after being at the release party, and playing this game before the general public I stopped quivering and started groaning with disappointment. Really, I won’t be dazed if this game is definitely remembered as one of the biggest let downs of this year if not years. Let me break it down with the whys:

Controls:
Anyone familiar with shooter games should have no concerns with getting right into the game. The basic button employments are alright in regard to running and jumping, but the aiming pissed me off more than ever. There’s an obnoxious lassitude with Duke’s aiming. I’m not braggin; but I do well with shooters, especially well and tend to be accurate. Using Duke’s crosshair aim is pretty pointless and anesthetized. I found this out in just the first few minutes of the game.

Gameplay:
The game seems to take place maybe a decade later with the aliens back to have their vengeance by pilfering Earth’s [presumably] hot women. It’s pretty ridiculous and this storyline lost my interest quickly with my want to push forward to the next level.

Speaking of pushing forward; instead of progressing on from one stage to another, the shooting segments are copiously separated and had me roaming around aimlessly trying to find the next clue. I hate that, it turned boring, fast!

Busy Gamer Gamette Taffeta Darling

Again I found myself forcing the momentum. There’s some subjection to awfully long loading times when Duke runs out of his “Ego??? [HP] during fighting sequences. Not to mention the hiding and waiting for those health points to power back up. I thought the fact that Duke has to run and hide to wait for his “Ego??? to boost up was pretty lame, not so fearless. Now, there are some interesting [not so much enjoyable] skirmishes, including the bout with the Alien Queen, which again, is pointless and tedious. However; it does lead to an awkward and unsettling lap dance. The rest I won’t spoil, I’ll let you pick out highlights for yourself, if you make it that far.

Art Design/Graphic Styling:
Obviously they’ve jolted the graphics up on this version, but it no way stands on common ground with the likes of modern day shooters. It preserves the visual aspect of first generation xBox titles. It reminded me of a motion comic that had little variation to the maps. Even the Titty City of Las Vegas failed in detail, most uninspiring.

The voice acting isn’t too bad. I mean, I met the guy who does the voice and I totally got into his shtick. He has good energy and passion for the role. But alas, the over the top one-lines are either lifeless or in bad taste.

Moving on to bad taste:
When Duke accidentally kills a woman, he makes a remark which I thought was inappropriate and somewhat tasteless. There is another stage when Duke stumbles upon two ladies and they beg for their lives. Instead of saving them, he gives them a stupid explicit filled pun and watched them explode. I’m no prude and can play hard with the rest of the ballers but there is a point at which my liberal mind says “Just stop, dude???.

It is my opinion, and it is only an opinion; that Duke Nukem Forever is for neophyte gamers looking for mindless play. After 15 years of anticipation, hype and months of facebook posting; this game finally dropped and I’m totally sorry that I picked it up.

Duke Nukem has become his own lampoon and I can’t imagine this “relic??? being good for any era.

The Taffeta Darling
www.curvesandcomics.blogspot.com
www.thetaffetadarling.com

DCC 2011 - Photos by Jim Brown.

There were several firsts at this particular Dallas Comic Con.

It was the first gathering in the spanking new Irving Convention Center. The new building is an impressive sight from the outside and even more so on the inside. The fans were out in force, even with the threat of the impending Rapture hanging over their heads. Fortunately, the Rapture was pushed back to October 21st so we can all stop worrying about that for now.

The other first was the Reckon Crew finally getting to meet Carrie Fisher. Call us fan boys if you must but we’ve been looking forward to this day for a very long time. I was there for Crutchboy when he nearly fainted when Carrie told him he was too short to be a Stormtrooper. I would have even forgiven him if he would have squealed and done that thing with his hands like an excited school girl. But he maintained his cool.

I met another one of my heroes, Leonard Nimoy, at the convention. I’d been unfortunate enough to miss him at some previous events so I made it my mission to meet him this time and get his autograph. My plans to tell him his face was “illogical” fell through, however, so there will be another meeting… Next time, Nimoy, next time.

Gamette Lhars Steck and cosplayers! Photo by Jim Brown.

We stopped by the booth of our two favorite Dallas artists, Terry Parr and Halo Seraphim. Terry and Halo have stepped up their game with their new project ShoNuff Studios. Their art gets better every time I see them and the “cleavage buttons” they’re offering are sure to be a hit with the gents.

Taffeta Darling was in fine form, braving the crowd to hang out with the Reckon Crew. She was a hit with the fans and dressed as Zantanna, I was able to forgive the crowds as they tried to get their picture taken with her. I was even able to forgive them for not knowing who I was.

Stan Lee was in attendance and in high demand. It was good to see him at another convention and I applaud the Dallas Comic Con team for landing him for this gig.

All in all, I continue to be amazed with how quickly this event has grown. The prior events were by no means deficient but my hat is definitely off to the gents at C2 Ventures. If they continue in their current direction, the next event should be spectacular.

As for the stun gun incident, well, here’s a little sneak peek…

Gritskrieg – End of Line

And here’s some news about another one of our lovely ladies, one who isn’t afraid to go toe to toe with the Reckon Crew when it comes to drinking, Taffeta Darling.

Taffeta was our September 2010 Gamette and is an avid gamer, accomplished cos-player, and general know it all when it comes to comic books. And I say “know it all” with no small amount of respect.

Taffeta reported on the Dallas Burlesque Festival in a Viewer Army segment from G4′s Attack of the Show. We might be a little biased but we think she was fantastic in the segment.

Don’t believe us? Check it out for yourself:

See, what did we tell you? Fantastic.

Plus, while you had the distinct honor of watching the lovely Taffeta, you were treated to some good old fashioned Burlesque.

Now go tell Taffeta that you think she’s awesome before we help her steal your comic books. And your booze.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

Billy Dee Williams - Wizard World Austin

For those of you not in the know, Austin Texas was invaded this weekend by the largest assortment of nerds, cos-players, science fiction enthusiasts, and comic geeks at this year’s Wizard World Austin Comic Con. The convention was held at Austin’s Convention Center downtown and spanned over 3 days with plenty of ‘nerd-dom’ to spread around, and then some.

Wizard World Austin consisted of tv/film celebrities appearances such as Lee Majors, Ernie Hudson, Adam West, Burt Ward, Lindsey Wagner, Ray Park, Billy Dee Williams, Lou Ferrigno, Gil Gerard, Walter Koenig, WWE’s Kevin Nash and Torrie Wilson, not to mention comic artists James O’Barr, Arthur Suydam and Matthew Sturges – and I reiterate this is only a few from those three categories. It was a lot to take in over the weekend for us fanboys and fangirls (see a complete list here).

Being a major fanboy myself, I find these events mind boggling with so much going on that I literally have to make a written list of things I want to see, attend, ogle over, and of course spend money on. As our weekend team took some time to split up and see the con and wander at our own place, my first observation was that the Austin Con Center was very adequate for this event. With all the attendance, I didn’t have to wade through people to get to see who I wanted to see. The celebrity lines went fast, and were not too long of a wait at all. Most strikingly was the reception of the fans by the guests. Every celeb I spoke to were very easily approachable which can be nerve racking at times. You never want your favorite stars reputation to be blemished by rude behavior toward its audience, who are ultimately the ones who are paying for it (yeah that would be you). The range of prices for personalized autographed photos were $20-$40, not including any photos that you wanted to take.

Back off man, I'm a scientist!

My highlight of the weekend was getting to speak informally with Luciana Carro aka ‘Kat’ from SyFy’s Battlestar Galactica series. After totally geeking out with her about the TV series and obtaining my autographed photo I proceeded to try and ‘over nerd’ myself and remove from my backpack a copy of the new paperback The Science of Battlestar Galactica by Kevin Grazer / Patrick Di Justo (a technical manual written about the series by one of its NASA consultants). Amazingly since the book is very new, she had not received her copy and was delighted to peruse it there with me. Yes with me! When you get to sit and talk sci fi technology with a member of the cast, one on one, in real time, and hear their experiences on the set, stuff that you would only read about – that’s the reason enthusiasts like us storm these cons, (well me anyhow). Luciana was super polite, signed my book, I went on my way with another con experience up there on my list, as again knowing affirmatively, ‘why we do what we do, and why we love doing it’.

We closed out the evening with a Q&A panel lead by Ghostbuster’s Ernie Hudson, followed by a quiet intimate showing of the Ghostbusters movie where we sat alongside several of the members of Texas’ Ghostbuster cosplay fan clubs as they quoted lines along with the film – ‘Aim for the flattop!’.

Overall, Austin provided a great welcoming for the Wizard World show, and we were happy to be able to attend. And magnificent props to those of you who were able to get some photos with our Gamettes Taffeta Darling and Deathwish Dena (pictured above), they did a fantastic job representing with us, and of course it just is never the same doing cons without them! So until the nerds gather in the masses again…

Crutchboy – Out.

Photos by Dave Martindale / www.emptyallegory.com, click below to see more pics of Wizard World Austin!

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Our September Gamette of the Month by far needs not much of an introduction, she should very well be introducing us. We met her at several of the Dallas Comic Cons this year and it was no hurdle for her to charm the BG Crew. If you don’t see her doing some cosplay around Texas, you may very well find her storming comic shops loading up on her favorite books or planning her next Dr. Sketchy’s show. So again, say hello to her if you see her, go and visit her slamming website, and give Taffeta Darling a round of applause for gracing the pages of BusyGamer.

Tell us who your favorite character is and why they’re better than Superman. If your favorite character is Superman, you lose this round.
Enid Coleslaw [if you don't know who that is, you lose this round]. She’s just trying to figure herself out and find her place in the world. Sadly she paves and leaves a path of heartache for herself and just about anyone who cares for her. Supes has a lil heartache and struggles with his family and heritage on a different scale. Enid had and has the strength to keep family in the heart but seek out the world and it’s meaning. Clark is pretty predictable, and no matter what, he’ll will always run home.

Tell us in haiku/Why we should read comic books/Because haikus rock.
* inward adventures * free my mind o book of art * the beacon to shore *

You get to choose one awesome super power but then you have to take one lame super power as well. What are they and why?
Lame Power – Ultra Flatulence boost, that projects ya 2 feet into the air, because it’s a natural occurrence, and every gal could use a boost. A Super Power – flying. Duh. no wait, breathing under water.. ah crap, maybe invisibility.

Our super power is being super sexy. Is it working?
I’m sorry, what was the question? I got lost in your sexy, sexy eyes.

Read the full interview and pictorial here!